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by Josh Howarth
February 21, 2023

Internet users are more concerned about data privacy than ever before, and rightfully so. Every app we download, every social media platform we join, and every website we visit collects various data points about us.

As governments rush to enact laws to protect data privacy, data breaches keep occurring at an alarming rate.

These statistics explore the state of data privacy in 2023 and beyond.
Contents:
Top Data Privacy Statistics

Before you start exploring the full list, here are some of the more notable data privacy statistics:

9 out of 10 Americans consider their online privacy to be an important issue

85% of global adults want to do more to protect their online privacy.

1 in 4 Americans are asked to agree to a privacy policy every day.

Two-thirds of global consumers feel that tech companies have too much control over their data.

72.6% of iOS apps track private user data.

Free apps are 4 times more likely to track user data than paid apps.

Less than one-quarter of American smartphone users feel in control of their personal data online.

Online Privacy Statistics

Keeping personal data private online is a top concern for most internet users. Despite these worries, many struggle to effectively protect themselves online.

90% of US Internet users agree that online privacy is important (Surfshark)

Most Americans value their online privacy, and 75% believe they could be vulnerable to attacks by cybercriminals. But there's a gap between awareness and action. Only 64% use tools to help protect their online privacy, and just 56% feel that they're in control of their data.

85% of global adults want to do more to protect their online privacy (Norton)

10,000 adults across 10 countries shared their perspectives on data privacy in a 2022 survey. The vast majority say they want to do more to protect their privacy. Other perspectives revealed that it's easier said than done:

80% say they are concerned about their privacy.

69% say they are more concerned than ever about their privacy.

61% say they willingly sacrifice data privacy in exchange for convenience.

55% believe it's impossible to fully protect their privacy.

51% say they don't know how to protect their privacy.

71% of global adults have taken steps to improve their online privacy (Norton)

Norton's 2022 Cyber Safety Insights survey found that over two-thirds of adults are being proactive about data privacy. Here are some actions they're taking:

29% changed default privacy settings on their devices.

26% enabled multi-factor authentication on select accounts/devices.

26% disabled third-party cookies in their web browsers.

Most Americans believe it's impossible to avoid companies and the government collecting their data (Pew Research)

In a Pew Research survey, 62% of respondents said it's impossible to go through daily life without companies collecting their data. 63% said the same about the government. This is a major source of stress, as even more are concerned about how companies (79%) and the government (64%) use their personal data.

1 in 4 Americans are asked to agree to a privacy policy every day (Pew Research)

Americans are constantly bombarded by wordy privacy policies: 25% say they encounter them daily, 57% at least weekly, and 81% at least monthly. Pew Research surveys found that only 22% of Americans read privacy policies in their entirety.

Antivirus, ad blockers, and password managers are the top 3 tools people use to protect their privacy online (Surfshark)
63% of internet users claim to use antivirus software.
The next most popular data privacy tools are used by less than half of internet users: 39% use ad blockers while 36% use password managers. Less than one in five use other tools like encrypted email (17%), encrypted messenger apps (15%), and paid VPN services (14%).

Consumer Data Privacy Statistics

Brands love consumer data. Data helps them run more efficient and targeted ad campaigns. It allows for more personalization of user experiences. But for consumers, knowing all that data is out there-and often for sale to other companies-is a growing concern.

Two-thirds of global consumers feel that tech companies have too much control over their data (YouGov)

Tech giants like Meta collect private data on billions of people, causing anxiety around the world. In the UK and Spain, 75% of adults feel tech companies have too much control over their data.

Older generations feel more strongly about big tech and data privacy. 70% of Baby Boomers agree that tech companies have too much control of their data. For Gen Z, just 59% agree.

According to consumers, brand purchase history is the most appropriate type of data to collect (Gartner)

Consumers agree that certain data types are more appropriate for brands to collect, especially if it helps with personalization. Brand purchase history is the most acceptable data to collect, with 80% of consumers agreeing it's okay to do so. Most consumers are also happy with brands collecting user-provided personal preferences (77%) and basic demographics (67%).

Consumers are less comfortable with brands collecting other types of data. Only 34% of consumers think it's appropriate for brands to collect browsing history. Fewer feel comfortable with brands collecting employment and financial data (29%) and personal health data (27%).

80% of companies store sensitive data in the cloud (Netwirx)

The vast majority of companies use multiple clouds in their day-to-day operations. It's no surprise then that 4 in 5 companies keep sensitive data in the cloud. 44% of companies use cloud computing to store customer data. 44% also keep employee data stored on the cloud.

Multi-factor authentication is the most common approach companies use to protect data in the cloud (Netwirx)

How are companies working to keep data safe in the cloud? 69% use multi-factor authentication, or MFA. 63% use cloud backups, while 62% use encryption for added protection.

Hackers are the main threat to cloud data security (Netwirx)

55% of IT professionals see hackers as a top threat to data privacy in cloud infrastructures. Surprisingly, the other top threats are individuals trusted by the company: 39% see employees and 36% view contractors and partners as legitimate data security threats.

47% of adults across 12 countries have stopped relationships with companies over data privacy policies (Cisco)

The way companies handle user data can make a difference. Nearly half of surveyed adults across a dozen countries have ditched companies over data concerns. 33% of respondents left social media platforms, 28% left internet providers, and 23% left phone companies over their data privacy policies.

Only 18% of US social media users feel that Facebook protects their data and privacy (Insider Intelligence)

The US has over 230 million Facebook users, but less than 45 million users actually trust the platform with their data. Trust in Facebook is falling, too- in 2021, 27% of US users trusted the platform, according to surveys by Insider Intelligence.

Data Privacy Regulation Statistics

Companies have been collecting user data for decades, and governments are finally starting to catch up. Europe led the way with GDPR in 2018, and since then several other countries have followed suit. In the United States, most residents' data is still unprotected by privacy regulations.

More than 4 in 5 US voters support the measures in the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (Morning Consult)

The ADPPA hasn't been signed into law yet, but the vast majority of Americans support its contents:

87% support banning the sale of data to third parties without users' consent.

86% support requiring companies to minimize the types of user data they collect.

86% support increasing online privacy regulations for children under 17.

82% support giving individuals the right to sue for damages after data breaches.

The California Consumer Privacy Act protects $12 billion worth of personal information each year (State of California)

The US might lag behind Europe in privacy regulations, but the 39 million people who call California home now enjoy some extra protections under the CCPA. The Act gives California residents the right to know who collects their personal information, opt out of the sale of their personal information, and request that businesses delete the information they've collected.

Google searches for "california consumer privacy act" are up 1200% since 2018.
Mobile Data Privacy Statistics

We turn to mobile apps for news, functionality, and entertainment. But those same apps collect dozens of data points about us. Here are the latest data privacy stats from a mobile perspective.

72.6% of iOS apps track private user data (42matters)

How many apps on the Apple store track, collect, and use private user data? 42matters provides eye-opening statistics into mobile apps and data privacy:

72.6% of iOS apps (1.26 million) track private user data.

27.48% of iOS apps (477,000) use data linked to users.

16.41% of iOS apps (284,000) have access to users' background location.

13.08% of iOS apps (227,000) use data to track users.

44% of free iOS apps collect user data (42matters)

Every category on the App Store has a huge selection of free apps, but downloading those apps has a hidden cost. Free apps are 4 times more likely to collect user data than paid apps. 10.31% of paid apps collect user data, compared to 44% of free apps.

Social media and food delivery apps track an average of 20 user data points (Surfshark)

Social media and food delivery apps collect the most user data on average, according to the privacy policies of over 200 apps. Shopping apps collect an average of 18 user data points, while dating apps collect 16 data points on average.

App categories that collected the least amount of user data points are browsers, image editors, and kids' apps.

Less than one-quarter of American smartphone users feel in control of their personal data online (DIW)

Only 23% of smartphone users in the United States say they feel in control of their personal data. 40% say they're worried about how companies can use their personal data online, and 25% worry about how their government tracks them online.

Data Breach Statistics

Data breaches happen every day. They compromise millions of user account credentials, leaking usernames, passwords, and other sensitive information.

There were 1,774 data breaches in 2022 (ITRC)

2022 was a big year for data breaches, with 422 million people affected by an average of 4.8 breaches per day. The types of private data leaked in those breaches is alarming:

1,560 breaches leaked victims' names.

1,143 breaches leaked victims' social security numbers.

565 breaches leaked victims' home addresses.

465 breaches leaked victims' medical histories.

443 breaches leaked victims' bank account numbers.

The 2020 CAM4 data breach exposed over 10 billion records (Upguard)

In terms of sheer volume of leaked data, the CAM4 data breach in 2020 was the largest data breach in history. The attack on the adult website leaked users' names, email addresses, sexual orientations, email and chat transcripts, and IP addresses. The next largest attack was the Yahoo data breach of 2013, which compromised over 3 billion user accounts.

The average cost of a data breach is $4.35 million (IBM)

Data breaches are expensive. The average global cost is just over $4 million. But in the United States, the average cost of a data breach soars to $9.44 million. Costs vary by industry, too. In healthcare, for example, the average data breach costs $10.0 million, while the average breach in hospitality costs $2.94 million.

44% of data breaches include customer names, email addresses, and passwords (IBM)

Personal information like usernames, passwords, and email addresses are the most common type of data exposed during a breach. Since so many internet users reuse the same login credentials, a single data breach can compromise user accounts on countless other platforms.

Wrap Up

Today's consumers want to keep their personal data safe, but they often have to choose between privacy and convenience. With data breaches exposing millions of user data points, finding ways to secure sensitive data is more critical than ever.

Many of the world's governments have enacted data privacy regulations, and more are sure to follow suit. Over the next several years, we'll discover what that means for the future of data privacy.

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23+ Alarming Data Privacy Statistics For 2023

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Discover the latest data privacy statistics, including public concerns, mobile data privacy, laws and regulations, and the biggest data breaches to date.

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Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner

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The importance of privacy - Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner

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The importance of privacy - Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner

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Why does privacy matter? Often courts and commentators struggle to articulate why privacy is valuable. They see privacy violations as often slight annoyances. But privacy matters a lot more than that. Here are 10 reasons why privacy matters.
1. Limit on Power
Privacy is a limit on government power, as well as the power of private sector companies. The more someone knows about us, the more power they can have over us. Personal data is used to make very important decisions in our lives. Personal data can be used to affect our reputations; and it can be used to influence our decisions and shape our behavior. It can be used as a tool to exercise control over us. And in the wrong hands, personal data can be used to cause us great harm.
2. Respect for Individuals
Privacy is about respecting individuals. If a person has a reasonable desire to keep something private, it is disrespectful to ignore that person's wishes without a compelling reason to do so. Of course, the desire for privacy can conflict with important values, so privacy may not always win out in the balance. Sometimes people's desires for privacy are just brushed aside because of a view that the harm in doing so is trivial. Even if this doesn't cause major injury, it demonstrates a lack of respect for that person. In a sense it is saying: "I care about my interests, but I don't care about yours."
3. Reputation Management
Privacy enables people to manage their reputations. How we are judged by others affects our opportunities, friendships, and overall well-being. Although we can't have complete control over our reputations, we must have some ability to protect our reputations from being unfairly harmed. Protecting reputation depends on protecting against not only falsehoods but also certain truths. Knowing private details about people's lives doesn't necessarily lead to more accurate judgment about people. People judge badly, they judge in haste, they judge out of context, they judge without hearing the whole story, and they judge with hypocrisy. Privacy helps people protect themselves from these troublesome judgments.
4. Maintaining Appropriate Social Boundaries
People establish boundaries from others in society. These boundaries are both physical and informational. We need places of solitude to retreat to, places where we are free of the gaze of others in order to relax and feel at ease. We also establish informational boundaries, and we have an elaborate set of these boundaries for the many different relationships we have. Privacy helps people manage these boundaries. Breaches of these boundaries can create awkward social situations and damage our relationships. Privacy is also helpful to reduce the social friction we encounter in life. Most people don't want everybody to know everything about them - hence the phrase "none of your business." And sometimes we don't want to know everything about other people - hence the phrase "too much information."
5. Trust
In relationships, whether personal, professional, governmental, or commercial, we depend upon trusting the other party. Breaches of confidentiality are breaches of that trust. In professional relationships such as our relationships with doctors and lawyers, this trust is key to maintaining candor in the relationship. Likewise, we trust other people we interact with as well as the companies we do business with. When trust is breached in one relationship, that could make us more reluctant to trust in other relationships.
6. Control Over One's Life
Personal data is essential to so many decisions made about us, from whether we get a loan, a license or a job to our personal and professional reputations. Personal data is used to determine whether we are investigated by the government, or searched at the airport, or denied the ability to fly. Indeed, personal data affects nearly everything, including what messages and content we see on the Internet. Without having knowledge of what data is being used, how it is being used, the ability to correct and amend it, we are virtually helpless in today's world. Moreover, we are helpless without the ability to have a say in how our data is used or the ability to object and have legitimate grievances be heard when data uses can harm us. One of the hallmarks of freedom is having autonomy and control over our lives, and we can't have that if so many important decisions about us are being made in secret without our awareness or participation.
7. Freedom of Thought and Speech

Privacy is key to freedom of thought. A watchful eye over everything we read or watch can chill us from exploring ideas outside the mainstream. Privacy is also key to protecting speaking unpopular messages. And privacy doesn't just protect fringe activities. We may want to criticize people we know to others yet not share that criticism with the world. A person might want to explore ideas that their family or friends or colleagues dislike.
8. Freedom of Social and Political Activities
Privacy helps protect our ability to associate with other people and engage in political activity. A key component of freedom of political association is the ability to do so with privacy if one chooses. We protect privacy at the ballot because of the concern that failing to do so would chill people's voting their true conscience. Privacy of the associations and activities that lead up to going to the voting booth matters as well, because this is how we form and discuss our political beliefs. The watchful eye can disrupt and unduly influence these activities.
9. Ability to Change and Have Second Chances
Many people are not static; they change and grow throughout their lives. There is a great value in the ability to have a second chance, to be able to move beyond a mistake, to be able to reinvent oneself. Privacy nurtures this ability. It allows people to grow and mature without being shackled with all the foolish things they might have done in the past. Certainly, not all misdeeds should be shielded, but some should be, because we want to encourage and facilitate growth and improvement.
10. Not Having to Explain or Justify Oneself
An important reason why privacy matters is not having to explain or justify oneself. We may do a lot of things which, if judged from afar by others lacking complete knowledge or understanding, may seem odd or embarrassing or worse. It can be a heavy burden if we constantly have to wonder how everything we do will be perceived by others and have to be at the ready to explain.

Related Posts and Resources
Privacy Resources Professor Solove's Privacy Training Courses Privacy Training and Data Security Training Requirements Guide GDPR Training Guide Privacy Training Matters * * * *
This post was authored by Professor Daniel J. Solove, who through TeachPrivacy develops computer-based privacy training, data security training, HIPAA training, and many other forms of training on privacy and security topics. This post was originally posted on his blog at LinkedIn, where Solove is an "LinkedIn Influencer." His blog has more than 1 million followers. If you are interested in privacy and data security issues, there are many great ways Professor Solove can help you stay informed:
* Professor Solove's LinkedIn Influencer blog
* Professor Solove's Twitter Feed
* Professor Solove's Newsletter Please join one or more of Professor Solove's LinkedIn Discussion Groups:
* Privacy and Data Security
* HIPAA Privacy & Security
* Education Privacy and Data Security

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by Daniel J. Solove Why does privacy matter? Often courts and commentators struggle to articulate why privacy is valuable. They see privacy violations as

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Your law firm may be relying more on new technology to meet the demands of practicing law in the 21st century. The need for remote work options, client expectations, convenience, and costs contribute to this push towards legal tech. While these new ways of practicing law come with benefits, attorneys should be mindful of how they impact data privacy.

Why Is Data Privacy Important in Law?

Data privacy has always been an important issue for attorneys and their clients. During a representation, attorneys and clients will exchange countless pieces of sensitive data. This data may include personal information (e.g., social security numbers and financial data), trade secrets, and other sensitive data. Generally, attorneys have an ethical duty of confidentiality to protect a client's data by not revealing it to a third party without the client's permission.

Decades ago, data privacy meant having a physically secure space to store paper files and other client information. Now, attorneys increasingly rely on computers, software, and internet systems to store and share client-sensitive data. These technological advancements provide many benefits for law practice (e.g., faster communication, flexibility, and reduced costs).

However, those benefits may come at the cost of greater risk for the breach or loss of a client's data through cyberattacks. Law firms, like financial institutions and other organizations, remain popular targets for hackers and cybercriminals because of the sensitive data they possess. Additionally, risks may also exist for inadvertent transmissions of client data by attorneys and their staff without proper safety measures in place.

Ethical Obligations for Law Firms and Data Privacy in the Computer Age
The legal profession's adoption of new technology has led to related ethical opinions from the American Bar Association (ABA). In Formal Opinion 477R, the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility added a new requirement for lawyers to take "reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure... of information relating to the representation of a client." In addition, an amendment was made to address additional security measures. To help ascertain when security measures are required, the Committee outlined factors such as:

The odds of disclosure without added protections

The cost of available protections

The difficulty of implementing the protections

The level of adverse effects the protections may have on the attorney's representation of the client

Additionally, ABA Opinion 483 imposes an ethical obligation on lawyers to notify clients about their data breaches under the obligation of keeping clients informed about the status of a matter. The state bar association where you practice may also have its own standards and obligations for attorneys and law firms regarding data breaches and/or protecting client information.
Other industry regulations may also impose data privacy obligations on attorneys who possess protected information because of the nature of their clients (e.g., HIPAA for healthcare institution clients). In short, data privacy is a top concern for solo practitioners and firms of all sizes.

Key Issues When Investing in New Technology for Your Firm

Internet and cloud software services create new ways for firms to store documents, manage client information, and communicate. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, these services became even more important for law firms to continue their practice. Products like Zoom and Dropbox are now standard features that clients may expect from their attorneys for convenience.

Keeping data privacy obligations in mind, law firms may want to develop a rigorous methodology for evaluating the risks of adopting new technology. Before implementing new tech into your practice, you may want to understand the risks of the service and how they align with current best practices. Below are some concepts that may help you and your firm when assessing technology options:

Carefully review the terms of Software as a Service (SaaS) contracts. Many software companies rely on the ability to access data from your use of their product for quality assurance and future improvements. You may want to look for any waivers of your rights or authority given to software providers to access data or allocations of risk in the event of a cyber-attack.

Work with your IT staff to evaluate the cyber risks. Seeking support from IT professionals may help when it comes to auditing new software. They could give assurances about a product or input on how to use the product safely to mitigate chances of a cyber-attack (e.g., passwords, two-factor authentication, etc.)

Look for comments from state bar associations. You may find publications or other information from state bars about the safe use of technology in your practice. Periodic monitoring for updates from these bodies can clarify your risk levels when using internet systems and software.

Safeguards for Protecting Data

Law firms may also benefit from developing internal safety measures and training to further protect client data from phishing scams and other malware. The depth and frequency of these measures may depend on your firm's demographics, the nature of your clients, and the types of technology you use. In many cases, training on the proper use of email and internet browsers may be a necessity.

Best practices for using email to transmit client information may include procedures such as:

Verifying email addresses

Avoid using links from unknown sources

Create strong filters to block or send unwanted messages to trash folders.

Attorneys must often rely on internet web browsers for legal research, accessing government databases, and other client activities. Safe web browsing may require the use of firewalls to limit access to potentially insecure websites. Firms can also set up procedures for safely downloading documents and programs from an internet source.

Adding Cyber Liability Insurance to Your Data Privacy Plan

Despite the available resources for safely using technology in your practice, data breaches from cyber-attacks may always be a threat. The financial and business fallout from a breach of your law firm's data may be costly.

One way to help protect against that risk is to purchase a cyber liability insurance policy. A policy may provide coverage for the third party and first party losses of a cyberattack. This might include defense costs, damage payments, and costs for any regulatory fines for third-party claims. You may also be able to recover first party losses such as lost income from business interruptions or from cyber extortion.

Get a Cyber Liability Insurance Quote Today

Like other industries, the practice of law is constantly changing and improving because of the technology available. For risk-conscious attorneys, this creates a tension between adopting that technology for greater efficiency and the inherent risks of cyberattacks on your client's data. Your firm may move forward into this new age of legal practice with the security of a cyber liability policy.

Contact Aon Attorneys Advantage to get a quote today on a cyber liability insurance policy for your law firm.

This information is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended to provide individualized advice. All descriptions, summaries or highlights of coverage are for general informational purposes only and do not amend, alter or modify the actual terms or conditions of any insurance policy. Coverage is governed only by the terms and conditions of the relevant policy.

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What Lawyers Should Know About Data Privacy

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Your law firm may be relying more on new technology to meet the demands of practicing law in the 21st century. While these new ways of practicing law come with benefits, attorneys should be mindful of how they impact data privacy.