Understanding Fitness Tracker Users' Security and Privacy Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours

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Personal data collected by fitness trackers can leave users open to security and privacy threats, often without their knowledge. Using an online survey with 212 fitness tracker users, we asked questions to understand participants' knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to security and privacy, associated with the use of their fitness trackers. We found that users do little to protect their data. While they seem confident about the type of data being collected, they are unsure about how it is being used. Understandably, users are more comfortable sharing their data with friends and work colleagues. We also found that users differentiate between the types of data they are willing to share, suggesting a need for improved sharing preferences. When considering scenarios describing data uses with security and privacy implications, participants recognized that many scenarios were plausible but frequently felt that the scenarios were unlikely to occur. Overall, our findings lead us to believe that fitness tracker users require a greater awareness of the collection, ownership, storage, and sharing practices related to the tracking of their data.