Energy and water companies occupy the middle ground in consumer confidence of their competence in handling customer data securely, Fujitsu found in a recent survey. But they have little room for error. “If trust is already an issue for utility companies, it begs the question as to what the result will be when the first full scale breach of customer data occurs,” said Graeme Wright, associate director of utilities, Fujitsu UK and Ireland.
He said consumers behaved “indifferently” to utility data but smart metering could change that quickly. “As smart meters provide greater accuracy on our usage, they’ll also provide better insight into our daily lives,” said Wright.
Fujitsu Head of security David Robinson said: “Energy companies need to communicate and demonstrate that their data security is resilient. They are not active enough in that.”
The Fujitsu survey looked at eight sectors including local and central government, banking and social networks as well as utilities (covering energy and water companies). All sectors had shown a decline in customer confidence in their data security over the past ten years.
Banking took the largest fall in their survey score at nearly 50 per cent but still had the highest rating followed by high street retailers, online retailers and utilities. Social networks took last place.