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Cyber Protection Week Survey: Data Safety, Privacy Are Top Priorities

Device users frequently ignore backups, according to the "Cyber Protection Week 2020 Survey" conducted by backup and disaster recovery (BDR) software provider Acronis.

Key findings from Acronis' Cyber Protection Week 2020 Survey included:

  • 90 percent of organizations back up their devices at least once a year.
  • Among personal users, 51 percent back up to local storage devices or separate hard drive partitions, 31 percent back up to the cloud and 17 percent back up to a combination of cloud and local destinations.
  • Among IT professionals, 36 percent back up to the cloud, 25 percent back up to local storage devices or separate hard drive partitions, 20 percent replicate data to other data centers and 20 percent back up to a combination of cloud and local destinations.

In addition, the survey revealed personal device users and IT professionals are concerned about the following aspects of cyber protection:

  • Safety: Ensuring reliable backups keep data, applications and systems safe and easy to recover.
  • Privacy: Controlling who can view and access data, applications and systems.
  • Security: Defending against cyber threats and cybercriminals. Accessibility: Maintaining fast, secure access to data, applications and systems.
  • Authenticity: Confirming that data, applications and systems are original and unmodified.

The survey also highlighted that personal device users and IT professionals are concerned about the following cyber threats:

  • Cryptojacking (78 percent of personal users and 86 percent of IT professionals).
  • Ransomware (82 percent of personal users and 88 percent of IT professionals).
  • Social engineering attacks (82 percent of personal users and 87 percent of IT professionals).
  • Data breaches (84 percent of personal users and 91 percent of IT professionals).

Cyber protection solutions blend data protection and cybersecurity, and they enable personal device users and IT professionals to reduce risk and secure data, applications and systems, Acronis indicated. As such, cyber protection solutions can play key roles in helping personal users and IT professionals guard against cyberattacks and data breaches.

Dan Kobialka

Dan Kobialka is senior contributing editor, MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E. He covers IT security, IT service provider business strategies and partner programs. Dan holds a M.A. in Print and Multimedia Journalism from Emerson College and a B.A. in English from Bridgewater State University. In his free time, Dan enjoys jogging, traveling, playing sports, touring breweries and watching football.