LAST UPDATED March 22, 2022
There’s a lot of talk about APIs and their security, or lack thereof, in the infosec community. But does any of this knowledge, or concern, reach consumers? That’s what we attempted to figure out in our API [In]Security: The Consumer Perspective survey report. We reached out to 833 US consumers between the ages of 18 and 70 to find out if they understand how frequently their personal information is now shared between apps via APIs, the security implications of this sharing, and whether and at what point a related security event would incite them to take action.
We found that consumers do, in fact, understand that their data is being shared significantly; overall, it makes them uneasy, but not enough to take action in most cases. However, if a breach led to the exposure of their banking information, Social Security number, or credit card number, around 70% of respondents said they would leave the brand.
In the end, consumers want and need the convenience afforded by APIs, but most (61%) don’t trust brands to treat their data with care, and are uneasy about the level of data sharing that is now commonplace. Ultimately, these sentiments lead most consumers (65%) to be willing to pay more for a brand that made security a priority.
Get the full survey results and analysis to find out more about what consumers think about API use and security.
