Online Security Threat Concerns Cost Almost $2 Billion in 2006

Consumer concerns about the security of the Internet will result in nearly $2 billion in U.S. e-commerce sales losses, according to a recent survey by research group Gartner Inc. About $913 million is lost, because consumers who do shop online don’t shop as much as they would if they weren’t concerned about security. Another $1 billion is lost because of shoppers won’t shop online at all because of security concerns.

Other data revealed by the survey of 5,000 U.S. adults:

* 46 percent of U.S. adults say that concerns about theft of information, data breaches or Internet-based attacks have affected their purchasing payments, online transactions or e-mail behavior;

* Almost 70 percent of online consumers say recent security breaches have affected their trust in e-mail; and

* Among online consumers whose behavior has been affected by recent security threats, more than 85 percent delete suspect e-mail without opening it.