What the polls show: Americans and cybersecurity Aaron Smith - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

What the polls show: Americans and cybersecurity

Aaron Smith

Associate Director, Research

July 20, 2017

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Overview of our cybersecurity work

• Part o

t of our ur o

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ngoing w work o

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n Americans’ privacy y atti ttitud udes and nd b behaviors

• Two polls f

lls field lded i in 2016

• Cond

nducted o

• nl

nline ne o

• f a na

nati tionally r y representative s sample of American adul ults

• Sur

urvey o

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ne c covered A Americans’ atti ttitudes and nd b behaviors a around und c cyb ybersecurity

• Experiences with info theft, confidence in institutions to protect their info
• Behaviors around password management and other security protocols
• General attitudes towards cybersecurity issues
• Su

Survey two c covered Am Americ icans’ cybersecurity k knowledge

Many Americans have personal experience w/ data theft

July 20, 2017

3 Survey conducted March 30-May 3, 2016

Public expresses broad concerns that personal data has grown less secure

July 20, 2017

4 Survey conducted March 30-May 3, 2016

Low confidence in many institutions to protect personal info

July 20, 2017

5 Survey conducted March 30-May 3, 2016

Memorization is by far the most common way Americans keep track of their passwords

July 20, 2017

6 Survey conducted March 30-May 3, 2016

Many engage in subpar password practices

July 20, 2017

7 Survey conducted March 30-May 3, 2016

More broadly, a substantial minority express worry and stress about password management

July 20, 2017

8 Survey conducted March 30-May 3, 2016

Many are neglecting basic smartphone cybersecurity measures

July 20, 2017

9 Survey conducted March 30-May 3, 2016

Roughly half of online adults use public wi-fi, in some cases for sensitive activities

July 20, 2017

10 Survey conducted March 30-May 3, 2016

Public knowledge of cybersecurity issues is generally low

July 20, 2017

11 Survey conducted June 17-27, 2016

July 20, 2017

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A few takeaways

1) In g gen ener eral, Amer mericans don’t “g “grade” pa particularly wel ell o

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this subject. 2) The p peopl ple e who y you think m k might k t know a a lot a about t this i issue? e? That i t isn’t t always the c e case. 3) Peo eopl ple d don’t res espo pond to “c “cyber ersecurity s stress” i in the w e way peo peopl ple i in the e cybersec ecurity ty f field m might w t want t t them m to – instead of

• f lock
• cking d

down t the he door

• ors, t

the hey are e in ma many c cases t taki king t the e pa path o

• f lea

east r res esistance. 4) More b e broadly, ther ere i is a disconnect between peo people’s a attitudes a about t this i issue an and their ir b behavio iors.