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

Philips SmartSleep Snoring Relief Band for Better Sleep

According to Philips and a Park Associates survey [1], about 40 percent of people in the US alone report difficulty in maintaining a sufficient amount of sleep consistently and according to the Britis...

Why People Cancel Streaming Subscriptions

Some new research from Parks Associates looks at the biggest reasons why people get rid of streaming subscriptions. On Parks’ chart of “OTT Churn Triggers,” the top item listed is “Need to cut hous...

2018 Market Report: Security and the Smart Home Installation Channel

More than 60% of installing dealers now report that DIY systems are biting into demand for their services, according to the fifth annual Residential Security Market Report (2018) from the research fir...

Recent IoT Research Says Broadband Households Care More About Cybersecurity Than Ever Before

Simply installing security systems in smarthomes is no longer enough, and security integrators may want to consider bolstering cybersecurity measures when installing residential systems. This swift...