Pandemic-Induced Digital Reliance Creates Lingering Security Side Effects: IBM Survey

IBM Security today announced the results of a global survey examining consumers’ digital behaviors during the pandemic, as well as their potential long-term impact on cybersecurity. With society becoming increasingly accustomed to digital-first interactions, the study found that preferences for convenience often outweighed security and privacy concerns amongst individuals surveyed – leading to poor choices around passwords and other cybersecurity behaviors.

Consumers’ lax approach to security, combined with rapid digital transformation by businesses during the pandemic, may provide attackers with further ammunition to propagate cyberattacks across industries – from ransomware to data theft. According to IBM Security X-Force, bad personal security habits may also carry over to the workplace and can lead to costly security incidents for companies, with compromised user credentials representing one of the top root sources of cyberattacks reported in 2020.[1]

The global survey[2] of 22,000 individuals in 22 markets, conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of IBM Security, identified the following effects of the pandemic on consumer security behaviors:

· Digital Boom will Outlast Pandemic Protocols: Individuals surveyed created 15 new online accounts during the pandemic on average, equating to billions of new accounts created around the world. With 44% reporting that they do not plan to delete or deactivate these new accounts, these consumers will have an increased digital footprint for years to come, greatly expanding the attack surface for cybercriminals.

· Account Overload Led to Password Fatigue: The surge in digital accounts led to lax password behaviors amongst those surveyed, with 82% of respondents admitting to reusing credentials at least some of the time. This means that many of the new accounts created during the pandemic likely relied on reused email and password combinations, which may have already been exposed via data breaches over the past decade.

· Convenience Often Outweighed Security & Privacy: More than half (51%) of millennials surveyed would rather place an order using a potentially insecure app or website vs. call or go to a physical location in person. With these users more likely to overlook security concerns for the convenience of digital ordering, the burden of security will likely fall more heavily on companies providing these services to avoid fraud.

As consumers lean further into digital interactions, these behaviors also have the potential to spur adoption of emerging technologies in a variety of settings – from telehealth, to digital identity.[3]

“The pandemic led to a surge in new online accounts, but society’s growing preference for digital convenience may come at a cost to security and data privacy,” said Charles Henderson, Global Managing Partner and Head of IBM Security X-Force. “Organizations must now consider the effects of this digital dependence on their security risk profile. With passwords becoming less and less reliable, one way that organizations can adapt, beyond multi-factor authentication, is shifting to a ‘zero trust’ approach – applying advanced AI and analytics throughout the process to spot potential threats, rather than assuming a user is trusted after authentication."

Consumers Report High Expectations for Ease of Access

The survey shed light on a variety of consumer behaviors impacting the cybersecurity landscape today and moving forward. As individuals increasingly leverage digital interactions in more realms of their lives, the survey found that many have also become primed with high expectations for ease of access and use.

5 Minute Rule: According to the survey, most adults (59%) expect to spend less than 5 minutes setting up a new digital account.

Three strikes you're out: Globally, respondents would attempt 3-4 logins before resetting their password. These resets not only cost companies’ money, they can also pose security threats if used in combination with an already compromised email account.

Committed to Memory: 44% of respondents store online account information in their memory (most common method,) while 32% write this information on paper.

Multi-factor authentication: While password reuse is a growing problem, adding an additional factor of verification for higher risk transactions can help reduce the risk of account compromise. The survey found that around two-thirds of global respondents had used multi-factor authentication within the past few weeks of being surveyed.

Diving Deeper into Digital Healthcare

During the pandemic, digital channels became a crucial component to address massive demands for COVID-19 vaccines, testing and treatment. Consumers’ adoption of a wide variety of digital channels for COVID-19 related services may spur greater digital engagement with healthcare providers moving forward by lowering the barrier for entry amongst new users, according to IBM Security analysis.[4] According to the survey:

63% of respondents engaged with pandemic-related services[5] via some form of digital channel (web, mobile app, email, and text message)

While websites/web apps were the most common method of digital engagement, mobile apps and text messages also received significant usage – with 39% and 20% engaging via these channels, respectively.

As healthcare providers push further into telemedicine, it will become increasingly important for their security protocols to be designed to withstand this shift – from keeping critical IT systems online, to protecting sensitive patient data and continued HIPAA compliance. This includes data segmentation and implementing strict controls so that users can only access specific systems and data, limiting the impact of a compromised account or device. To prepare for the event of ransomware and extortion attacks, patient data should be encrypted, preferably at all times, and there must be reliable backups in place so that systems and data can be quickly restored with minimal interruption.

Paving the Way for Digital Credentials

The concept of digital health passes, or so-called vaccine passports, introduced consumers to a real-world use case for digital credentials, which offer a technology-based approach to verify specific aspects of our identity. According to the survey, 65% of adults globally say they are familiar with the concept of digital credentials, and 76% would be likely to adopt them if they became commonly acceptable.

This exposure to the idea of digitized proof of identity during the pandemic may help spur wider adoption of modernized systems of digital identity, which could potentially replace the need for traditional forms of ID like passports and driver's licenses, offering a way for consumers to provide the limited information required for a specific transaction. While leveraging a digital form of identity has the potential to create a sustainable model for the future, security and privacy measures must be put in place to help protect against counterfeiting – calling for the capabilities of blockchain solutions to verify and provide the ability to update these credentials in the event they are compromised.

How Organizations Can Adapt to Shifting Consumer Security Landscape

Businesses that have become increasingly reliant on digital engagement with consumers as a result of the pandemic should consider the impact this has on their cybersecurity risk profiles. In light of shifting consumer behaviors and preferences around digital convenience, IBM Security suggests that organizations consider the following security recommendations:

· Zero Trust Approach: Given increasing risks, companies should consider evolving to a “zero trust” security approach, which operates under the assumption that an authenticated identity, or the network itself may already be compromised, and therefore continuously validates the conditions for connection between users, data, and resources to determine authorization and need. This approach requires companies to unify their security data and approach, with the goal of wrapping security context around every user, every device, and every interaction.

· Modernizing Consumer IAM: For companies that want to continue leveraging digital channels for consumer engagement, providing a seamless authentication process is important. Investing in a modernized Consumer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) strategy can help companies increase digital engagement – providing a frictionless user experience across digital platforms and using behavioral analytics to help decrease the risk of fraudulent account use.

· Data Protection & Privacy: Having more digital users means that companies will also have more sensitive consumer data to protect. With data breaches costing companies $3.86 million on average amongst those studied, [6] organizations must put strong data security controls in place to protect against unauthorized access – from monitoring data to detect suspicious activity, to encrypting sensitive data wherever it travels. Companies should also implement the right privacy policies on premise and in the cloud in order to help maintain consumer trust.

· Put Security to the Test: With usage and reliance on digital platforms changing rapidly, companies should consider dedicated testing to verify that the security strategies and technologies they’ve relied on previously still hold up in this new landscape. Re-evaluating the effectiveness of incident response plans, and testing applications for security vulnerabilities are both important components of this process.

Prashant Bhatkal, Security Software Sales Leader, IBM Technology Sales, India/South Asia

The big takeaway from this survey is that consumers have become accustomed to the convenience of digital interactions during the pandemic, and this trend is expected to continue even after society returns to pre-pandemic norms. Companies that are more reliant on digital engagement with consumers during the pandemic must consider the effects of these changes on their security risk profile.
 
Today, organizations across various sectors must look to embed advanced tools, leveraging AI and analytics, to modernize their Identity and Access Management platforms in the current hybrid environment. The need of the hour is to provide a frictionless user experience across digital platforms while creating a stronger security posture and limiting potential risk. To assure the greatest levels of security, companies in India must adopt a ‘Zero-trust’ approach,  develop and understand the context around every user, every device, and every interaction making it a mission-critical agenda.”

Key data points from an India standpoint:

Digital IDs here to stay: embedding next-level security and privacy imperative

• Indian respondents interacted with all types of businesses/organizations through websites and mobile apps more during COVID, especially banking (65%) and shopping/retail (54%). Respondents over 35 saw the largest increase in digital interactions during the Covid-19 pandemic, though all age groups saw at least some increases.
• Indian respondents created about 19 new online accounts during the pandemic across all categories, and on average, created 3 new accounts for social media and entertainment. Indian respondents over 50 created about 27 new online accounts during the pandemic across all categories and created more new accounts across each category than any other age group.
• Adults 35-39 Most Likely to Continue Digital-First Interactions: Across all businesses/organizations, 35-49-year-old Indian respondents are most likely to predict they will interact via website or mobile phone in life after the COVID-19 pandemic
• Larger digital footprints here to stay: 36% of Indian respondents do not plan to delete or deactivate any of the new accounts they created during the pandemic after society returns to pre-pandemic norms

Convenience in contactless services has led to poor consumer security habits

• Nearly half (47%) of Indian respondents mostly or always re-use the same credentials they have used for other accounts, and 17% have an even mix of re-used credentials and new credentials. 50% of 35-49-year-old Indian respondents always or mostly re-use the same credentials that they have used for other accounts.
• A majority of Indian respondents (57%) across all demographics, except GenZers, would rather place and pay for an order digitally than go to a physical location or call to place an order even if they had concerns about the website/app’s safety or privacy.
• Security and Privacy were top reasons to avoid using an app – but most still choose to use either way. About four in ten Indian respondents would avoid using an online platform to shop or place an order over concerns over app or website privacy (40%) and concerns over an app or website security (38%)
• A majority (51%) of respondents in India would remove permission for an application track behavior if the app were tracking activity across other apps and websites
• Four in ten (39%) Indian adults always allow an application to track activities across other apps and websites when asked.
• Nearly half (49%) of Indian respondents store their online account information in their memory, and over a third (35%) store their information on a piece of paper.

Pandemic produces savvier consumers: can businesses keep up?

• Over half of Indian respondents trust healthcare (51%) and banking/financial institutions (56%) a lot to protect their personal/sensitive information. Social Media is ‘Most Distrusted’ with 22% saying they trust those businesses ‘not much’ or ‘not at all.'
• Indian respondents generally prefer biometrics to log in to existing accounts for banking/financial instructions but prefer single-sign-on/social media logins or email/username and password for accounts across other categories
• Over seven in ten respondents in India have used a two-factor or multi-factor authentication to access an online account across all time periods
• Bad UX Leads to Lost Business: About 40% of Indian respondents have given up on an online purchase, application, or transaction based on negative experiences logging in (42%), signing up (40%), or completing the payment (41%)
• A majority (56%) of respondents in India expect to spend between 1-5 minutes setting up a new digital account