According to a research by IT firm DataSolutions senior IT professionals do not trust social media platforms to manage their personal data .
The company's survey of over 100 senior IT professionals found 98% of respondents mistrust social media providers, with 87% not trusting retailers when it comes to protecting personal data, with the level of mistrust falling for utility providers government bodies and banks . The study suggests the only group that is trusted by a majority of senior IT professionals when it comes to protecting personal data is their respective employers.

The majority of IT decision makers feel that 87% of retailers, 65% of Government bodies, 63% of utility providers and 53% of banks are all not to be trusted to protect their personal data. The only group that is trusted by the majority of professionals is their own employers.

According to DataSolutions, reputational risk facing businesses was cited as the biggest motivating factor for investment in new cybersecurity infrastructure for 36% of respondents. Other motivating factors included the risk of an attack occurring and financial risk with only 7% feeling the fear of GDPR fines due is the leading motivator for cybersecurity investment.

A further 7% identified compliance requirements as the biggest motivator. In addition, more than three-quarters of IT professionals believe their business is not fully compliant with GDPR legislation and almost one-in-five recognise they are not compliant.

The research also found almost 94% of businesses claim that in the event of a loss of personal data as a result of a cyberattack, they would notify the relevant authorities within the new legal window of 72 hours. Only 3% would not make authorities aware and the average estimated time to do so for all respondents is just 19 hours.

Security Specialist with DataSolutions Dave Keating said: "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. With the frequency and volume of data breaches over the past several years, it is not difficult to explain the trust issues."