Where did your state rank when it comes to cyber-security best practices?
We’ve always looked at cyber-security trends with an eye toward particular businesses, industries or systems. But we wondered: Does the state you live in determine whether you’re more or less likely to follow best practices? Well, once the thought popped into our heads, we just had to find out. So, we hired an outside firm to survey more than 10,000 people and conduct more than 200 interviews in each of the 50 states. And we found some interesting stuff.
Let’s get one thing out of the way first. No matter where you live, you’re probably overconfident in your cyber-security practices. In fact, Americans in general share many of the same risks and behaviors, including:
- Small businesses have greater exposure and vulnerability. Most small business owners use the same device for both work and personal use.
- Only 61% of people are backing up to the cloud and just 39% are doing it automatically.
- Millennials, Gen Zers and Gen Xers are more likely to back-up their data than Boomers.
- Parents are more likely to store their information in an encrypted format than non-parents.
- Half of Americans either aren’t backing up their data with encryption or just don’t know.
- A majority of Americans use the same passwords for personal and work accounts, making them more at risk because they have more lose.
With a constant stream of ransomware and cybercrime headlines, a lot of people are starting to realize that nobody is immune to cybercrime or bad online habits. And our survey proved it:
- Nearly one in five Americans rarely or never back up their files and data.
- One in four Americans has had their identity stolen, yet most still don’t use identity protection.
- More than one in three people have fallen for a phishing scam.
- Only 39% of people can confidently explain what malware is.
- Tech savvy people are worse about their online security than others.
- Even small business owners aren’t taking proper precautions.
For the complete state-by-state breakdown, visit our article, where you can download the full report and find tips for preventing attacks and making sure you can bounce back if you’re ever a victim in a ransomware attack. Cyberthieves are getting better and better at disguising their methods and collecting huge payoffs. So, it makes sense to protect your data from being held hostage.
