With the holiday shopping season upon us, many of us are recalling that Target was the victim of the second-largest hacking in history last year, right around the holidays.
So it comes as no surprise that a Gallup survey published in October says that 69 percent of people living in the U.S. worry about the possibility of their credit card information being stolen from stores due to hacking. The second runner-up in the most-feared crime poll was having personal information stolen from a phone or computer that was hacked.
Writing about the survey for The Huffington Post, Hunter Stuart reports that Americans are far more concerned about hacking crimes than any others. Here’s a short list of the most-feared crimes:
- 69 percent | Information from a credit card you used at stores stolen by computer hackers
- 62 percent | Computer or smartphone hacked
- 45 percent | Home burglarized while you’re away
- 42 percent | Car broken into or stolen
The financial information of Americans has been shown to be at risk with many other retailers being hacked. 27 percent of respondents to the Gallup survey said their credit card information, or that of a member of their household, was stolen from a store.
These security lapses hurt the economy, and may cause people to use their credit and debit cards less often, according to Gallup. Customers also say they steer clear of companies that have been hacked. The survey shows that people who worry most about having their credit card data hacked are those with salaries above $75,000, because they have more credit cards and spend more.
