Monday Poll results: A hint of cyberfear as hacking incidents rise

The entrance to the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, in Linthicum, Md. A $10 billion-a-year effort to protect sensitive government data, from military secrets to Social Security numbers, is struggling to keep pace with an increasing number of cyber attacks and is unwittingly being undermined by federal employees and contractors. Manuel Balce Ceneta Associated Press

There was a light turnout for this week’s survey. We’re not really sure what that means. Perhaps it was a result of how we framed the issues, or perhaps it reflects a lack of engagement on cyber security problems. Other than the odd credit card data breach, it’s possible that Americans haven’t quite figured out how digital warfare, criminal hacking and Big-Brother surveillance really affects their day-to-day lives. Here are the results of the unscientific survey, based on more than 100 responses:

1) On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate your personal privacy and security in the current environment, with 1 being “feeling pretty secure despite it all” and 5 being “I wish I could live off the grid.”

1 11%

2 12%

3 21%

4 30%

5 27%

2) Though Edward Snowden made off with classified documents, his actions to make Americans aware of secret NSA surveillance operations have been vindicated.

Agree strongly 38%

Agree somewhat 21%

Disagree somewhat 13%

Disagree strongly 28%

3) I’m an active user of Facebook, Google and other services, and I don’t really mind that social media and corporations have slurped up my private life for commercial use.

Agree strongly 4%

Agree somewhat 10%

Disagree somewhat 24%

Disagree strongly 62%

4) The U.S. State Department is working on international cyberspace security issues and CBS has “CSI: Cyber.” On a scale of 1 to 5, how worried are you that the nation faces as yet unimaginable cyber crises, with 1 being “I’m confident we’ve got a handle on it” and 5 being “will there be an Internet on Mars?”

1 2%

2 7%

3 20%

4 34%

5 37%

This story was originally published June 9, 2015 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Monday Poll results: A hint of cyberfear as hacking incidents rise."

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