How companies make money off your data
Most of us don’t trust companies with our data, according to a new survey. But are our concerns founded?
Most people are weary of sharing information with companies because they fear it will be misused.
According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), almost six in 10 (57%) don’t trust an organisation to use their data responsibly.
What’s more, 51% say they have been contacted by companies they felt had misused their data.
Commenting on the findings, CIM chief executive Chris Daly said: "Our report shows that people are nervous about sharing personal data – fears of data breaches and misuse has them on high alert.
"And with two-thirds (68%) of marketers confessing to limiting sharing their own data as a consumer because they know how organisations will use it, this is extremely worrying.”
Why companies want your information
Companies are desperate to know your likes and dislikes, what you buy and how you spend your time. Armed with this information they can bombard you with marketing messages for products and services.
Every time you fill in a form or make an application you are handing over vital personal information – and it’s obviously in companies’ best interests to find out as much as possible so it can be sold to the highest bidder.
Data is a crucial currency in the fight for customers and enables firms to better understand their customers’ needs and how they respond to goods and services, according to a report by the Competition & Markets Authority.
The study, ‘The commercial use of consumer data’, found companies use various sources of intelligence, pointing out that our increasingly enthusiastic move towards digital media has changed the dynamics in recent years.
“These include internet browsing histories, location via mobile devices, and contacts and interests via social media,” it read. “The data is then processed and reused by a wide variety of firms.”
What do they take?
The data collected can be divided into sections. For example, there is basic information such as contact addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses, as well as details on ages, ethnicity, gender and occupation. This is all pretty standard.
Then you have financial information, such as income and credit ratings, along with transactional data that includes purchases either made with loyalty cards or completed online – as well as the costs involved.
In addition there is contractual data, which covers service details and history maintained by, for example, utility companies.
Behavioural information, meanwhile, includes websites visited and any adverts clicked, as well as data on consumers’ use of games apps and telematics data that is increasingly being captured by motor insurance companies.
“Where consumers provide data to use Wi-Fi hotspots, this may be shared with third parties for marketing but also to track their in-store location,” read the report.
“A retailer may also be able to cross-reference this information to a customer's use of its shopping app to improve its understanding of customer behaviour.”
Elsewhere, cameras and specialist software increasingly enable stores and advertisers to target people with particular characteristics, such as by age and gender.
“There have been reports of a UK grocery retailer installing face-scanning technology at its petrol stations to target advertisements to customers at the till,” it continued.
Homing in on your habits
The report also highlights the rapid rise in the amount of online behavioural data collected, such as via cookies – small text files placed by a website’s server onto a user’s device that can share information such as pages visited.
However, there are now very strict rules in place for any organisation wanting to sell a marketing list for use in text, email or automated call campaigns, according to a guide to direct marketing published by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
“[It] will therefore need to keep clear records showing when and how consent was obtained, by whom, and exactly what the individual was told (including copies of privacy notices), so that it can give proper assurances to buyers,” it read.
Is this information valuable?
Well yes, but maybe not as valuable as you’d think. In fact, a report published by the Financial Times claimed that general information about a person, such as their age, gender and location is worth a mere $0.0005 per person, or $0.50 (35p) per 1,000 people.
On the dark web it’s slightly higher. For example, a payment card with bank ID number and the CV2 – the three digit value printed on the back of the card – is worth around $25 (£17.40), according to The Hidden Data Economy report, published by Intel Security.
With the date of birth included the price rises to $30 (£20.90) with the highest amount of $35 (£24.38) on offer if it is supplied with all details including the owner’s full name, billing address, expiration date and mother’s maiden name.
The study found the market for personal data was booming. “As the commercial value of personal data grows, cybercriminals have long since built an economy selling stolen data to anybody with a computer browser and the means to pay,” it read.
According to John Marsden, who is responsible for the UK ID and fraud business at credit reference agency Equifax, there’s a flourishing trade for such information on the dark web, fuelled by around 9,000 UK-based fraudsters and their international counterparts.
“It is an amazing place to get information and we estimate there are around 20 million consumer records for sale,” he says.
“These vary from names, addresses and dates of birth, right the way to fully compromised data involving individuals and their lifestyles.”
There’s a particularly strong demand for enriched data. This is where enterprising criminals take basic information and find out as much as they can about individuals from sources such as social media.
“This information comes from data breaches,” he adds. “An example would be someone taking a database of names and addresses from a garage. This might not be very useful on its own but it becomes more valuable when they know more about you.”
Some data breaches come via unscrupulous staff members who can be persuaded to share sensitive information in exchange for cash, according to Malcolm Tarling, spokesman for the Association of British Insurers.
“There have been a couple of instances we’ve come across where rogue and unscrupulous claims management firms have been targeting insurance company claims handling staff,” he says.
“We’ve been vociferous in wanting tighter regulation of CMCs.”
Looking to the future, John Marsden at Equifax believes data will continue to be a talking point. While he is adamant that the use of information can be beneficial to consumers, he is aware of the need for companies to abide by the rules.
“It is absolutely key to everything we do,” he says. “Data sharing is important as far as understanding a consumer and the building of trust…[However] we need to take data breaches very seriously as it’s the biggest threat for us all.”
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