Providing Market Intelligence for 40 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

Ridesharing Is Making It Harder Than Ever to Commit to a One-Car Relationship

Rising rideshare statistics offer plenty of fodder for utopian predictions of a car-free, community-focused future. But just because we’re using these services doesn’t mean we’re ready to give up on o...

Building the Future of Smart Home Security > Engineers must invent new technology to enhance security products' abilities

It’s nearly impossible to find a household today that doesn’t have at least one connected smart home device installed. From video doorbells to robot vacuums, automated lighting, and voice assistants,...

Can Traditional TV Keep Up In A Digital-First World?

The ongoing disruption was made manifest in the number of consumers tuning into alternate channels: 63% of broadband-enabled households have at least one OTT subscription, according to research from P...

Smart Home Evolution: Elephant in the Room

While I’m eager to watch the unfolding evolution of smart home technologies, with mind-blowing features like voice-enabled technology, machine learning, virtual reality, location services, and demand...