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.
Amazon controls one of the most-dominant streaming TV platforms in the United States, with its Fire TV operating system installed on 40% of devices in the domestic market, according to data from Parks...
“ADT is a powerhouse player in the residential security space, and this move to divest its commercial business shows the focus they are highly focused on the residential market,” adds industry analyst...
In March 2021, Parks Associates reported that 34% of all U.S. senior broadband households use smart speakers or smart displays. The firm defined seniors as those over 64 years of age. From the arti...
According to Parks Associates, 30 percent of US broadband households live in multi-dwelling unit (MDU) housing and there are 700K multifamily properties in the United States. From the article, "202...
