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Unisys 2017 Security Index released

The new Unisys security index has been released, showing that the UK is at a record high of concerns over security.

Unisys has conducted the Unisys Security Index – the only recurring snapshot of security concerns conducted globally – since 2007 in order to provide an ongoing, statistically-robust measure of concern about security. The index covers changing consumer attitudes over time across eight areas of security in four categories:

National Security category: security and disaster/epidemic,
Financial security: bankcard fraud and financial obligations,
Internet Security category: viruses/hacking and online transactions,
Personal Security: identity theft and personal safety.

According to the 2017 Index, concerns in the UK over security have increased significantly.

The leading security barometer shows that war and terrorism rank as the highest security issues cited by the British public with 52% citing serious concerns.

In general, UK consumers have reported a 40% increase in security-related concerns since 2014, with increasing concern in all four categories of the core survey: national, financial, internet and personal security. The biggest increases in concern were related to national and internet security – which rose 66% and 50%, respectively.

UK results from the Index show that the highest ranking security concerns relate to national security, war or terrorism, with 52% of respondents claiming they are extremely or very concerned about the terror threat in the UK.

Also high on the list of concerns was Identity theft, which registered second with 50% of respondents saying they are extremely or very concerned about the safety of their personal data.

Bankcard fraud continues to rank as one of the top security concerns in the UK, with 48% of those surveyed extremely or very concerned. Rising dramatically is the overall concern around Internet security, which is up by 50% since 2014.

Salvatore Sinno, chief security architect, Unisys, said: “Factors such as terror attacks, high profile cyber-attacks and the rising cost of living are all outside the public’s control and they are major contributing factors to the Unisys Security Index registering record levels of concern in the UK. Steps to advise and protect the public, such as the launch of the National Cyber Security Centre, are moves in the right direction, but we need joined up thinking across the public and private sectors to ensure the public are aware of risks, know how to avoid threats and act as securely as possible.”

The global average Index score stands at 173[1] from the 13 countries surveyed, with the Philippines scoring highest (243) and the Netherlands lowest at 125.