As CES 2016 gets into full swing in Las Vegas this week, a new Accenture study out Tuesday found that security could pose a problem for the sales of many of the hot new mobile and Internet of Things devices hitting the market from the popular event.

According to the study, which surveyed 28,000 consumers, 24 percent of people would delay buying an IoT device because of security concerns. Another 18 percent said they had stopped using an IoT device they already owned because of security concerns, while more than twice as many - 37 percent - said they were “cautious” when using those types of devices.

Those numbers reveal a high general awareness about security challenges of IoT devices, said John Curran, managing director of Accenture’s Communications, Media and Technology practice. That’s a shift from the budding awareness seen at last year’s CES show, Curran said.

“The degree to which what has been an underlying issue, or potential issue for consumers has really come to the fore,” Curran said from this week's CES event. “When I think back to CES last year … it was really the first time that I recall at CES that security was becoming a big story. … What we’re seeing in this study is the degree to which that trend has continued to grow and the importance that consumers are placing on it.”

That concern is starting to have a real effect on sales, the study found. Only 48 percent of respondents said they intended to buy a new smartphone this year. Far fewer, 13 percent, said they planned to purchase a smartwatch this year. In addition to security, the study found that users had major reservations around ease of use of the new devices and considerations between price and value.

“What we’re seeing is those three factors are really leading to the situation where, on these new device categories, we're seeing fla- line trends in terms of consumer purchase intent,” Curran said.

To reverse that trend, Curran said vendors need to pursue transparency around data collection, sharing and use, as well as better communicate what steps they're taking to better safeguard customer data.