Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Network Security: Hacking Fears Could Scare Consumers Away from Smart-Home Devices

The rising occurrence of high-profile security hacks and privacy breaches, as well as being personally victimized, are contributing to ever-increasing consumer anxiety about smart home devices and platforms, according to new research.

Parks Associates’ latest quarterly survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households found that almost half of consumers rank data security and privacy issues as their greatest concerns about connecting devices to the Internet, compared to other problems they may encounter, such as with tech support. Forty percent of the respondents say they have experienced a privacy or security problem with a connected device in the past year, most commonly viruses and malware.

“Our most recent data reveals that almost half of U.S. broadband households are ‘very concerned’ [rating 6-7 on a 7-point scale] about hackers getting control of connected devices and hackers getting access to data from the device,” says Parks Associates Research Analyst Brad Russell. “In tracing trending changes on these consumer attitudes from 2014 to 2016, we find that while the total share of consumers who are ‘concerned’ [rating 5-7] has not appreciably changed, the share of those that are ‘very concerned’ has grown by 6% to 7%. Similarly, the share of consumers who are ‘not concerned [rating 1-3] has shrunk by about half.”

From the article "Network Security: Hacking Fears Could Scare Consumers Away from Smart-Home Devices" by Rodney Bosch.

Previously In The News

Security Dealers Need More Options to Compete Smarter and Faster

In 2000, only half the U.S. population was accessing info through the internet; today, estimates are 95% to 98% of the 131.2 million U.S. households do. Parks Associates recently reported that one...

Renters Getting the Short End of the Internet Connectivity Stick

“The Community WiFi report provides operators with actionable data and insights to recognize renters’ Wi-Fi requirements and how to meet those evolving demands,” said Elizabeth Parks, President and Ch...

MultiChoice wins big at Promax Awards 2023, championing the fight against content piracy

Content piracy continues to threaten the very existence of the creative sector, with a Parks Associates report indicating that the value of pirate video services will exceed $67 billion globally this...

Content Piracy: Making Careers Disappear

A new Parks Associates report shows the value of pirate video services accessed by pay TV and non-pay TV consumers will exceed $67 billion this year. Those billions of dollars represent income stolen...