Comparis Study 2024 How safe the Swiss feel on the internet
The 2024 data trust study by Comparis shows: Despite the AI boom, search engines remain the most used online services in Switzerland. Twint performs best.
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- Search engines remain the most used online services in Switzerland, although AI-based tools such as ChatGPT are gaining in popularity.
- Swiss people's trust in the handling of personal data by banks and authorities has fallen.
- Twint has established itself as the most secure digital payment method, supported by its local connection and ease of use.
Every year, the comparison platform Comparis examines how much the Swiss trust the internet.
Jean-Claude Frick is a Digital & Telecom expert at Comparis. He says: "Although AI is on the rise with programs such as ChatGPT and Gemini, search engines are still popular and by far the most used online service in Switzerland." 83.6 percent of survey participants use Google & Co the most.
However, this shows that significantly more over 55-year-olds use search engines than younger web users. "ChatGPT and the like are being used more and more frequently for searches and will take market share away from search engines in the future," says Frick.
Email is losing importance. This trend is clearly evident, even though many people still send digital letters. Five years ago, 86.0% still used emails from providers such as Bluewin, Gmail or GMX. In 2024, this figure was 78.4% (over 4% less than in the previous year).
Compared to 2019, messenger services and chats have gained significantly in importance and are now on the same level as emails with a usage share of 77.7%.
Swiss people trust these companies the most
As in previous years, respondents place the most trust in banks (mean score on a scale of 1 to 10: 6.9) and public authorities (6.7) when it comes to the serious handling of customer data. However, trust has declined in both places in a five-year comparison (banks 2019: 7.2; public authorities 2019: 6.9).
"Scandals such as data protection gaps at the vaccination portal meineimpfung.ch or the takeover of the major bank Credit Suisse by UBS have diminished trust," Frick is convinced.
Hacker attacks and data scandals have left their mark on the Swiss population. On a scale of 1 (not at all secure) to 10 (very secure), participants answered the question "How secure do you feel when you enter personal data on the internet?" at a consistently low level over the years (2024: mean value 5.5).
For Comparis, this shows a constant, slight unease over the years when entering data online.
The uneasy feeling of being in the clutches of the data octopus also remains strong. The survey participants answered the question "How much do you generally feel monitored in your online activities?" with an average score of 6.8. This is the same score as in 2019.
Internet users continue to feel most threatened by spam/phishing emails (mean 6.9) and viruses/Trojans (mean 6.7) as well as the theft/misuse of payment data (mean 6.5).
According to our observations, the top threats reflect the dangers that have been with us since the early days of the Internet.
Currently, phishing attacks are particularly prevalent. The figure has increased slightly this year. "The reasons for this lie in increasingly sophisticated phishing waves that use AI-generated texts to try to obtain internet users' data," analyzes digital expert Jean-Claude Frick.
Twint is the most secure payment method according to the Swiss
The Swiss now feel fairly secure when shopping with digital payment methods. Twint has clearly established itself as the frontrunner and has now achieved an average score of 7.2 on the trust scale of 1 to 10.
The Swiss digital payment method is therefore considered to be the second most secure payment method of all. In 1st place is the invoice with a mean score of 8.1. 3rd place is occupied by cash on delivery (mean score 7.1).
According to Frick, the ability to transfer money between private individuals quickly and easily (something that competing services such as Apple or Samsung Pay still lack), together with the Swiss origin and the support of Swiss banks, strengthens trust in the domestic payment service and further increases the number of users.
Debit cards such as Postcard, Maestro and V-Pay have slipped from second place in 2023 to fourth place (average score 6.9). Comparis attributes this to the increased use of smartphones for payments.
Apple and Samsung lack a local connection
The payment systems of mobile phone companies Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and others still achieve a comparatively low score (mean score 5.9).
"The systems lack the local connection that Twint offers, as well as the option to easily transfer money privately. The option to use Apple Pay and the like abroad, on the other hand, doesn't give you a trust bonus," Frick is convinced.
Only a few change their password regularly
In addition, only 44.0% pay attention to their privacy settings on social media platforms. This figure has therefore remained low over the years. The proportion of people who regularly change their password is also relatively low (22.5%).
"It is extremely important to change your passwords more often and to handle the settings on social media platforms restrictively," warns digital expert Jean-Claude Frick.
