Marketers 'fail to protect data'

According to research commissioned by email security company StrongMail, 61% of marketers said their organisation had experienced the loss or theft of customer data in the past two years, with 38% saying it had happened more than twice in the past year.

'The findings create distrust, but they alert companies to the need for proper provisions,' said Caroline Roberts, the Direct Marketing Association's director of public and legal affairs.

Direct marketing consultant Hugh Bessant described the results as 'damaging' to the marketing industry. 'Fresh data is hard enough to find. We do not need people fearing that the information they provide is going to get lost,' he said.

The survey also showed that 90% of data losses or thefts were not reported to customers, as marketers believed this was not a requirement. Just under half of the survey's respondents said it was 'not important' or 'irrelevant' that customers trusted their company's privacy commitments, and 53% were unsure if their company's campaigns were violating individuals' privacy rights.

The findings come as concern over data protection mounts following a rash of high-profile government data security breaches, including the loss of 25m child benefit records in November.

Survey findings:

• 61% of marketers and 43% of data protection professionals admitted data breaches in their organisations.
• 38% of marketers and 14% of data protection professionals said these had occurred more than twice in the past year.
• 76% of marketers and 83% of data protection professionals understand that their organisations impose limits on the types of data they use.
• Source: StrongMail