While cybersecurity self-help advice is readily available to consumers, most resources are focused on preventing unintended sharing of devices, passwords, accounts, and personal information. This advice is ill-suited to intimate relationship contexts where sharing is common. A lack of baseline knowledge about smartphone-sharing practices and the reasons behind them has hampered Australian efforts to strengthen consumer cybersecurity. 

This study creates a new evidence base to understand everyday consumer smartphone sharing in intimate relationships to improve cybersecurity and technology design for all Australians. The study included a survey of 967 Australian adults and interviews with 10 diverse consumers to contextualise survey responses.

The report is provided with an infographic.

Recommendations

1. Expand smartphone cybersecurity options.
2. Integrate intimate threats into cybersecurity models.
3. Promote informed consent for smartphone sharing.