The majority of Irish IT professionals do not trust social media providers to manage their personal data carefully.

In addition, the survey of 111 IT decision makers found that 87pc of retailers, two thirds of Government bodies, 63pc of utility providers, and just over half of banks are all not to be trusted to protect their personal data.

The only group that is trusted by the majority (53pc) of professionals is their own employers.

"It is clear from the findings that when it comes to managing personal data, trust in most organisations is at an extremely low ebb and considerable work needs to be done to rebuild trust with users," Dave Keating, security specialist, DataSolutions, said.

"With the frequency and volume of data breaches over the past several years, it is not difficult to explain the trust issues."

The survey found that trust and reputation are important factors for both users and providers when it comes to the security of personal data.

Meanwhile reputational risk facing businesses was cited as the biggest motivating factor for investment in new cybersecurity infrastructure. Other motivating factors included the risk of an attack occurring, cited by one in four as a factor, and financial risk, which was cited by one in five.

Online Editors