Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Utilities’ poor consumer trust means they will feel the brunt of public and political fury should data leaks or breaches follow the smart metering roll out, according to electronics giant Fujitsu.
Energy and water companies occupy the middle ground in consumer confidence of their competence in handling customer data securely, Fujitsu found in a recent survey. But they have little room for error. “If trust is already an issue for utility companies, it begs the question as to what the result will be when the first full scale breach of customer data occurs,” said Graeme Wright, associate director of utilities, Fujitsu UK and Ireland.
He said consumers behaved “indifferently” to utility data but smart metering could change that quickly. “As smart meters provide greater accuracy on our usage, they’ll also provide better insight into our daily lives,” said Wright.
Fujitsu Head of security David Robinson said: “Energy companies need to communicate and demonstrate that their data security is resilient. They are not active enough in that.”
The Fujitsu survey looked at eight sectors including local and central government, banking and social networks as well as utilities (covering energy and water companies). All sectors had shown a decline in customer confidence in their data security over the past ten years.
Banking took the largest fall in their survey score at nearly 50 per cent but still had the highest rating followed by high street retailers, online retailers and utilities. Social networks took last place.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.