What’s your privacy and cybersecurity IQ? We surveyed more than 1,000 employees and members of the general public over a one-month period to gather a baseline of security and privacy awareness across a slice of the general population. We tested survey-takers’ knowledge across eight different security and privacy risk areas, including identifying phishing attempts, safe social media use, and working remotely. The results: 88% of respondents lacked the necessary awareness to stop preventable privacy or security incidents. Not good. What else did we find? Check out the infographic below for more details on the survey, and some best practices for a handful of key risk areas.

1. 2016STATEOFPRIVACYAND
SECURITYAWARENESSREPORT
88% ofEmployeesLacktheBasicAwarenesstoStop
PreventablePrivacyorSecurityIncidents
Theseindividualsputtheir
organizationsatseriousriskfora
privacyorsecurityincident.Such
incidentscanmeanbigtroubleforan
organization,includinglossof
consumertrust,financialand
reputationdamages,andmore.
RISK
16%
Noviceshaveagoodunderstanding
ofthebasics,butcouldstandto
learnmore.Theyshouldremember
thatevenonewrongdecisionor
mistakecanleadtoasecurity
and/orprivacyincident.
NOVICE
72%
Theseindividualsknowtheirstuff,
includinghowtoidentifyandproperly
disposeofpersonalinformation,
recognizephishingattemptsand
malware,andkeepinformationsafe
whileworkingremotely.
HERO
12%
RISK 0-23 00.0%-74.2%
SURVEYSCORERANGE PERCENTRANGE
NOVICE 24-28 77.4%-90.3%
SURVEYSCORERANGE PERCENTRANGE
HERO 29-31 93.5%-100%
SURVEYSCORERANGE PERCENTRANGE
PRIVACY&SECURITYAWARENESSIQSURVEYKEYFINDINGS
Weinviteyoutotakethesurveyyourself,benchmarkagainstyourpeers,and
figureoutwhichriskareasmaybeacauseforconcern.
READONTOLEARNMORE:
ONLY12% OFEMPLOYEESHAVEAHIGHENOUGHAWARENESSIQ
TOAVOIDPREVENTABLEPRIVACYORSECURITYINCIDENTS.
Organizations face numerous threats thatcompromise the
securityofcriticalinformation.Andwhenriskybehaviorgoes
unchecked,manyemployeescontinueto unintentionallyput
theirorganizations'sensitivedataatrisk.
ThissurveywasconductedbyMediaProtoformulateabaseline
Privacy&SecurityAwarenessIQfororganizationsassessing
theirriskprofiles.
?Wesurveyednearly1,000employees,testingtheirknow-how
acrosseightsecurityandprivacyscenarios.Whatfollowsare
thekeytakeawaysalongwithafewbestpractices.
Thesefiguresrepresentthepercentageofsurveyrespondentswhoshowed
riskybehaviorsineachoftheeightriskareas.
Overall,theaveragesurveyrespondentachievedaNOVICEscore,
whichstillleavesorganizationsvulnerabletothreats.
26%INCIDENTREPORTING
20%WORKINGREMOTELY
19%ACCESSCONTROLS
19%IDENTIFYINGPERSONALINFORMATION
18%IDENTIFYINGMALWAREWARNINGSIGNS
15%CLOUDCOMPUTING
14%SOCIALMEDIA
13%IDENTIFYINGPHISHINGATTEMPTS
AWARENESSOFEMPLOYEESIN8RISKAREAS
39%chosetodiscarda
potentialpassword
hintinanunsecured
trashbin.
Passwordsandpassword
hintsshouldbekeptunder
lockandkeyanddisposedof
byshredding,orsome
othersecuremeans.
BESTPRACTICE
TAKEAWAY
25%failedtorecognizeasample
phishingemailwithaquestionable
“from”addressandanattachment.
Onlyemailsfrom trustworthysourcesshouldbe
opened.Anyemailswithanattachmentshould
begivenextrascrutiny.
BESTPRACTICE
TAKEAWAY
thoughtitwasacceptable
touseapersonalUSB
drivetotransferwork
documentswhenworking
remotely.
Mostcompaniesdonotallowemployeestouse
apersonalflashdrive(personalportablemedia
orevenapersonal
clouddrive)tostore
businessinformation. Suchinformationshould
onlybestoredonsecure
andapprovedworkdevices.
BESTPRACTICE
TAKEAWAY
30%
thoughtitwasacceptable
topostonbehalfoftheir
company,eventoapersonal
socialmediaaccount.
Postingaboutcompanymatters
onsocialmediacouldleadto
reputationaldamageandcan
beinviolationofan
organization'scodeof
conduct.Alwaysabideby
anorganization’sinternal
policipolicieswhenitcomes
topostingabout
companymatters
onsocialmedia.
BESTPRACTICE
TAKEAWAY
KEYTAKEAWAYSANDBESTPRACTICES
https://www.mediapro.com/awareness-iq
TAKETHESURVEYNOW!
Allresponsesare100%anonymous.
WHAT'SYOURPRIVACY&SECURITYAWARENESSIQ?