Consumers' everyday lives are becoming increasingly digital. Routers, smartphones and smart home systems are creating many opportunities to improve quality of life - but cyber security risks are also on the rise. What is worrying here is that consumers are increasingly pessimistic about the security situation.
Various studies show that consumers are generally aware of the security risks in everyday digital life and see it as their duty to ensure that their devices are more secure. However, as consumers cannot assess the cyber security of a device by looking at it, they are dependent on consumer information on the subject of cyber security.
Against this background, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) commissioned ConPolicy to carry out this research project. The project aims to close the knowledge gap on how consumers could and should receive suitable information on the cyber security of digital devices before or in the course of purchasing them, so that they can incorporate this information into their purchasing decisions. To answer this question, findings from general consumer information research in particular are to be transferred to cyber security information.
ConPolicy is responsible for the following steps in this project:
- Analysis of the current state of research: First, the current state of research on the appropriate presentation and communication of consumer information on IT security will be evaluated.
- Determination of the status quo: In the second step, two product categories will be used to describe the practice of consumer information on IT security issues. Two product categories of IT products will be selected for this purpose. For these products, a selection of consumer information will be determined in an expert workshop, which is necessary for a consumer decision taking IT security aspects into account. Market research will then be conducted to determine what IT security information can actually be found on the market for the two product categories.
- Recommendations for action: Finally, suggestions for the appropriate presentation of cyber security information will be developed.
