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New Harris Poll: Cybersecurity Fears May Stall COVID-19 Digital Vaccine Card Adoption in the United States and United Kingdom, Identity Theft and Fake Cards Top List of Concerns

Published on
July 29, 2021

Most American and United Kingdom Adults Have Smartphones Needed to Use Digital Vaccination Cards, Willingness to Using Them Varies Among Populations

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — July 28, 2021 — Anomali, the leader in intelligence-driven cybersecurity solutions, today announced availability of its latest survey conducted by The Harris Poll. The study, which gathered responses from more than 2,000 adults 18 and older in the United States and more than 1,000 adults 18 and over in the United Kingdom, reveals that more than three-quarters of American and British adults have cybersecurity fears around the use of COVID-19 digital vaccination cards. Additional findings showed which entities respondents believe are responsible for protecting them against cyberattacks and who they believe the most likely culprits will be.  

The survey revealed similarities and differences between the populations. A majority of British and American adults predict that a disruptive cyberattack will follow digital vaccine card adoption, but they differ in other areas, such as confidence levels when it comes to how prepared each nation is to mount a defense. Among key findings:

  • 80% of Americans and 76% of those in the U.K. have cybersecurity concerns related to COVID-19 digital vaccination cards. Identity theft topped the list for both groups at 51%, with fake vaccine cards that could be used to hack smartphones (Americans 45%, British 44%) and data breaches (Americans 44%, Brits 45%) close behind.
  • 93% of Americans and 89% of British adults have smartphones capable of supporting COVID-19 digital vaccination cards.
  • 45% of Americas and 54% of Brits say they are very “likely” to use COVID-19 digital vaccination cards if they become a requirement for certain activities, such as traveling, attending sports venues, school attendance, entering a store or government building, etc. However, doubt remains, as 23% of U.S. respondents and 26% in the U.K. said they are “somewhat” likely. A full 32% of Americans rejected the idea of using digital vaccine cards (i.e., were not very or not at all likely to use them), as did 21% of Brits.
  • 64% of respondents in both countries expect that COVID-19 digital vaccination cards will lead to a cyberattack causing “moderate to major” disruption to business, government, and consumers. 23% of Americans and 27% of those in the U.K. said that disruption would only be “slight.” 12% of Americans and 9% of Brits do not expect any relate disruptions.
  • When asked to identify what type of adversary is most likely to carry out a cyberattack related to COVID-19 digital vaccination cards, Americans most frequently choose nation-state cyber actors like Russia, China, or North Korea (36%). U.K. respondents expressed that organized cybercriminal gangs were most likely (42%).
  • Confidence in defensive capabilities varied considerably between the US and United Kingdom. 64% of the British “somewhat to strongly” agree that government and private business is prepared to defend consumers against a related cyberattack, while only 48% of Americans felt the same. When asked which entity was responsible for providing defense, 63% of US and 74% of British respondents pointed to government.
  • Although COVID-19 passport standards haven’t been established, when asked to pick from a list of organizations that will most likely be responsible for creating and managing standards, the World Health Organization (WHO) was most frequently cited by Americans (45%), while the British most frequently chose Government (55%).

“Over the course of the pandemic, our intelligence analysts detected thousands of cyberattacks that were taking advantage of people’s desire to consume information online about how COVID-19 was impacting their lives and world. We’ve detected adversaries doing everything from using fake contact tracing apps to hijack smart phones and steal credentials to launching mass phishing campaigns to infect networks with things like ransomware,” said Hugh Njemanze, President, Anomali. “The easing of restrictions, rise in cyberattacks, and consumers’ willingness to use their smartphones to break free from restrictive lockdowns are at a nexus. Organizations responsible for keeping consumers and businesses safe online need to know who the adversaries are, where the attacks are coming from, and how to detect them before they develop into catastrophes.”

Methodology
This survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Anomali from June 30 – July 7, 2021 among 2,021 U.S. adults and among 1,007 UK adults all ages 18 and older. Raw data were weighted by the following demographic variables where necessary to reflect the general adult population as follows: age, gender, education, region, race, HH size, and marital status. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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About The Harris Poll
The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running surveys in the U.S., tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963. It is now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that strives to reveal the authentic values of modern society to inspire leaders to create a better tomorrow. We work with clients in three primary areas; building twenty-first century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. Our mission is to provide insights and advisory to help leaders make the best decisions possible.

About Anomali
Anomali is the leader in global intelligence-driven cybersecurity. Our customers rely on us to see and detect threats, stop breaches, stop attackers, elevate resiliency, and improve the productivity of their security operations. Our solutions serve customers around the world in every major industry vertical, including many of the Global 1000. We are a SaaS company that offers native cloud, multi-cloud, on-premises, and hybrid technologies. As an early threat intelligence innovator, Anomali was founded in 2013 and is backed by leading venture firms including Google Ventures, IVP, General Catalyst, and several others. Learn more at www.anomali.com.