Survey Reports Most Employees Want Stronger Data Protection Standards

A survey conducted by TripWire and Dimensional Research found that most employees working within cybersecurity infrastructure want greater action at the federal level to protect U.S. data and systems. 

The survey polled 306 IT employees at both private companies and public agencies; the respondents worked within the federal government, manufacturing sectors and energy and technology industries. 

Most of the questions asked revolved around standards recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and whether these are being implemented across workplaces and industries. According to the survey, 66% of respondents found the NIST guidelines for online security to be either “extremely” or “very” valuable.

An article from Route Fifty says that despite the broad positive perception of NIST standards, half of private sector and non-governmental organizations reported adopting the agency’s cybersecurity guidelines in full. Meanwhile, 82% of respondents said that the federal government should take stronger action to ensure private companies implement these guidelines, either by strengthening the recommendations or enforcing the standards outside of federal agencies.

When asked about the enforcement of NIST standards by the federal government, 43% of federal security employees said that government systems do a better job handling security issues, while 46% of non-federal entities said government agencies usually do a worse job managing data and network security. For both sectors, 53% of all respondents listed ransomware as their primary concern.