Indians created 19 online accounts on avg during Covid-19: IBM Research

Indians created about 19 new online accounts during the pandemic across different categories of online services, and on average, created three new accounts for social media and entertainment, a global research by IBM on consumer's digital behaviour during the pandemic has found.

The global survey asked 22,000 people in 22 markets about their online behaviour, and was conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of IBM Security.

Globally, the survey found that respondents created 15 new online accounts during the pandemic on average, equating to billions of new accounts created around the world. About 44 per cent reported that they do not plan to delete or deactivate these new accounts, leading to an increased digital footprint for years to come, greatly expanding the attack surface for cyber criminals.

Indian respondents over 50 created about 27 new online accounts during the pandemic across all categories and created more new accounts across each category than any other age group.

People in India also interacted more with all types of businesses or organizations through websites and mobile apps during Covid, especially banking (65 per cent) and shopping or retail (54 per cent). Respondents over 35 saw the largest increase in digital interactions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The big takeaway from this survey is that consumers have become accustomed to the convenience of digital interactions during the pandemic, and this trend is expected to continue even after society returns to pre-pandemic norms. Companies that are more reliant on digital engagement with consumers during the pandemic must consider the effects of these changes on their security risk profile," said  Prashant Bhatkal, Security Software Sales Leader, IBM Technology Sales, India/South Asia.

He added that companies must look to provide a frictionless user experience across digital platforms while creating a stronger security posture and limiting potential risk. "To assure the greatest levels of security, companies in India must adopt a ‘Zero-trust’ approach,  develop and understand the context around every user, every device, and every interaction making it a mission-critical agenda,” he said.

A majority (56 per cent) of respondents in India expect to spend between 1-5 minutes setting up a new digital account.

The increase in their digital footprint also meant that overall security online took a backseat. As many as 47 per cent of Indian respondents mostly or always re-use the same credentials they have used for other accounts, and 17 per cent have an even mix of re-used credentials and new credentials, the study found.

Half of the 35-49-year-old Indian respondents surveyed always or mostly re-use the same credentials that they have used for other accounts.  

More than half of the Indian respondents (57 per cent) across all demographics, said they would rather place and pay for an order digitally than go to a physical location or call to place an order even if they had concerns about the website/app’s safety or privacy.

Security and privacy were top reasons to avoid using an app, but most still choose to use either way. About four in ten Indian respondents would avoid using an online platform to shop or place an order over concerns over app or website privacy (40 per cent) and concerns over an app or website security (38 per cent).

Interestingly, in spite of these concerns, the survey found that Indian respondents generally prefer biometrics to log in to existing accounts for banking or financial instructions but prefer single-sign-on/social media logins or email/username and password for accounts across other categories

Part of the reason can be explained by the finding that over half of Indian respondents trust healthcare (51 per cent) and banking/financial institutions (56 per cent) a lot to protect their personal or sensitive information. Social media is ‘Most Distrusted’ with 22 per cent saying they trust those businesses ‘not much’ or ‘not at all.'

Over seven in ten respondents in India have used a two-factor or multi-factor authentication to access an online account across all time periods.

The survey also found that about 40 per cent of Indian respondents have given up on an online purchase, application, or transaction based on negative experiences logging in (42 per cent), signing up (40 per cent), or completing the payment (41 per cent).