Government and banking/finance organisations have topped Deloitte’s Australian privacy index because of their online polices that explained different privacy aspects.
Deloitte conducted a website analysis and surveyed over 1000 Australians for the index in early 2015.
They were asked to indicate up to five brands and industries that they trusted most and five they trusted least. Deloitte also assessed how these brands managed data breaches.
Approximately 18 per cent of consumers surveyed had received a privacy notification after a personal data by an organisation. Consumers were most reluctant to share their credit card details, passport number and driver licence number.
According to Deloitte, government and banking/finance organisations scored highly because they had the best governance policies and procedures, and were up to date with currently regulatory change.
Government websites had the lowest number of third party cookies.
Social media, health/fitness, retail, insurance, technology, energy, travel/transport, telecommunications and media industries rounded out the top 11. Sectors that featured in the lower half of the industry ranking tended to have a standard privacy policy and a higher number of third party cookies.
Organisations that scored well had a an online privacy policy that was easily understood by the consumer, a trusted brand and few or no major privacy events reported in the media.
Commenting on the index, Deloitte cyber risk services director Gavin Cartwright said that establishing a privacy culture was essential.
“It is critical that as organisations derive benefit from personal information, the consumer is kept informed about the use and any changes to their data,” he said.
“The power today comes from the volume of personal information being gleaned by organisations from users both directly and indirectly. And the responsibility is an increased need and expectation from Australian consumers for transparency, security, ethical use and overall governance.”
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