Federal Manager's Daily Report

Seventy-four percent of members of the public lack confidence in government’s ability to keep their personal information secure and 66 percent would be willing to sacrifice convenience for more security when dealing with federal agencies, a poll by the Accenture firm found.

Sixty percent said they would be willing to answer additional questions when logging into government sites and 47 percent said they support the use of biometric technology, it found.

“Citizens also expressed support for new security services that agencies could adopt to enhance their data privacy and security measures. Respondents agreed that the availability of a secure digital identity (85 percent), the undertaking of regular security assessments (82 percent) and new cyber defense services (85 percent) would improve their confidence in the privacy and security of their data,” a summary said.

It added: “Interestingly, respondents who interact with government regularly (daily or multiple times per day) were more than twice as likely as those who don’t to express confidence in government’s ability to protect their data (64 percent versus 27 percent).”

The survey also found significant differences in attitudes by age, with those under age 35 the most confident in the government’s data-protection abilities, 35 percent, and those age 65 and older the least confident, 16 percent.