Interest in data privacy has skyrocketed to the highest level in history since data started being gathered in 2004.
This shows there is a massive interest in the United States for data privacy solutions considering private data is being bought and sold by several companies around the world.
Data Privacy Interest Skyrockets
According to data provided by Google Trends, interest for data privacy surged in October to the highest point in the United States since 2004.
At the moment, data privacy reached a level of 100 compared to 68 in July this year or 39 in July 2017. Google Trends’ levels represent the search interest relative to the highest point in a specific date range. A 100 value means the interest is at its highest point and represents a peak in popularity. A value of 50 shows interest is half as popular.
The lowest point in history was recorded in June 2004 when the interest for data privacy as a search term fell to 17.
Between 2004 and 2015, interest for data privacy remained stable between 25 and 50, with just a few exceptions. Nevertheless, in mid-2016, it is possible to see a growth in the interest individuals had for this search term.
Some of the related queries suggested by Google include ‘Personal Data,’ ‘Data Breach’, and ‘Facebook Privacy.’
It is worth mentioning that interest in Data Privacy worldwide has also been growing in recent times. However, the all-time high was reached in May 2018 with an interest level of 100. Nowadays, the interest in this search term is 79.
The current levels in interest reached by data privacy are not expected to slow down in the near future, considering privacy is becoming a hot topic among individuals and companies.
During the last few years, there have been several situations that affected data privacy and how users handle their information online.
For example, Facebook was hit by a data scandal in early 2018 in which the company Cambridge Analytica harvested the personal data of millions of Facebook users. After this situation, there were many campaigns to delete Facebook and improve data privacy.
Additionally, the educational technology company Edmodo was affected by data loss. This allowed hackers to have access to hundreds of passwords and emails from users located in different regions.
Companies know that users are more careful about providing private data on the internet. This is why they have decided to tackle this issue by investing larger amounts of money in information security technology.
In a recent report released by the security site PreciseSecurity.com, the global information security technology market is expected to grow to $151.2 billion by 2023. This would represent an increase of 57% compared to 2018.
At the same time, PreciseSecurity also reported that the data loss prevention market is also expected to double to $2.28 billion in the next four years.
Additionally, users are also using VPNs, password managers, and other privacy services that allow them to have their data protected at all times.
The world is becoming highly interconnected and privacy is becoming very valuable to users. Companies are also addressing this issue and regulators are increasing their fines if users’ data is vulnerated.
