Data Protection: ‘Nearly 33% Indians store sensitive data unsafely on email, phone contact list’

As per the survey, which had 24,000 respondents from 393 districts of India, around 39 per cent of the respondents said that they had kept all these details on a piece of paper, while 21 per cent claimed to have memorised them.

Three such incidents have been reported this year where pickpockets stole ATM cards from commuters travelling in crowded trains and later withdrew money from their bank accounts. (Representational)

Nearly 33 per cent of Indians store sensitive data like computer passwords, bank account, credit and debit cards details as well as other personal data such as Aadhar card or PAN card details in an unsafe manner in email or their contact numbers, according to a survey conducted by LocalCircles.

As per the survey, which had 24,000 respondents from 393 districts of India, around 39 per cent of the respondents said that they had kept all these details on a piece of paper, while 21 per cent claimed to have memorised them.

Moreover, up to 29 per cent of Indians share their ATM or debit card pin details with their close family members while nearly 4 per cent share these details with their domestic or office staff, the survey found.

“It was found out that 29 per cent have given this access to 1 or more members of the close family, 4 per cent have given it to 1 or more domestic or office staff, and 2 per cent have given it to 1 or more friends. The majority of 65 per cent of respondents said no one other than they have access to their ATM or debit card detail,” the survey by the company found.

LocalCircles said it would present the findings of the survey to government and the Reserve Bank of India “so these findings can be utilised to create necessary programs to educate the public at large on how to secure personal and financial information effectively”.

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Data protection