Consumers 'unsure whether to trust businesses with details'

Over the last 18 months, high-profile data losses have made people unsure whether or not to trust companies with their personal details, an industry expert has suggested.

Ian Brown, senior research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, explained online companies have received a lot of negative publicity recently.

There have also been added legal pressures after the European Union's Data Protection Authority requested search engines decrease the volume of data they hold.

But Mr Brown believes companies can reduce the risk of data being lost or misused.

"One of the most secure ways you can protect people's information is to not collect any at all, or keeping data for shorter periods of time," he said.

"Companies are less likely to lose it and hackers are less likely to get hold of it."

Those who have used a web hosting provider to create a site for their business might want to consider this advice when storing users' personal details.

Yahoo! announced earlier this month it would make all user log-in details anonymous within 90 days – with some exemptions for legal obligations and fraud and security reasons.