During the 4 days of January (27-31), Harris Interactive conducted an online survey among 2,364 U.S. online adults aged 18+ to determine whether they trust using their tablets and smartphones for transferring sensitive data. The results show that those with tablets are more willing to do so than smartphone users. Here are the finding:
Of online adults who own and use a tablet, 48% transfer sensitive data, 42% of which do that for personal use and 20% for business/professional use. When it comes to smartphone users, 30% of respondents transfer sensitive data, 26% of which for personal use and 14% for business/professional use. Overall, business/professional users are more likely to be at least confident in the security of the data that is being transferred over their smartphone or tablet PC than those who use it for personal use (52% vs. 42% respectively).
Gender wise, men are more likely than women to say they are at least confident in the security of the data that is being transferred over their smartphone or tablet PC (47% vs. 34% respectively).
As for the age groups, unsurprisingly younger adults aged 18-34 (52%) are more likely than adults aged 35-44 (41%), 45-54 (28%) and 55+ (33%) to be at least confident in the security of the data that is being transferred over their smartphone or tablet PC:
- Smartphone users ages 18-34 (37%), 35-44 (33%) and 45-54 (21%) are more likely than those aged 55+ (9%) to use it to transfer sensitive data.
- Tablet owners ages 18-34 (61%) and 35-44 (56%) are more likely than those ages 45-54 (33%) and 55+ (20%) to use their devices to transfer sensitive data.
Finally in terms of the security perception, 18% of respondents are extremely/very confident, while 15% are not at all confident in the security of the data that is being transferred over their device(s).