More than half of US adults lack confidence in government's ability to fight cyberattacks

According to a new study from third-party ID risk specialist SecZetta 53 percent of respondents lack confidence in the strength of the US government’s infrastructure to protect the American people from cyberattacks.

Also 88 percent say organizations and government entities must have better data security systems in place to protect them from the increase in third-party remote attacks.

In the wake of recent high profile attacks, 83 percent agree that because organizations increasingly rely on contractors, freelancers, and other third-party workers, their data systems have become more vulnerable.

"The surge in high-profile cyberattacks in recent months has shown how seemingly easy it is for bad actors -- whether human or bots -- to infiltrate an organization's data security infrastructure, creating chaos for the company and potential harm for consumers," says David Pignolet, founder and CEO of SecZetta. "Many of these attacks originated through weaknesses in these organizations' risk-based identity access and lifecycle strategies for non-employee populations."

Respondents are least confident in the oil, gas and utilities industries, with only 45 percent saying they feel confident. Men are slightly more likely to say they’re confident than women (48 percent compared to 43 percent).

There's slightly more confidence in healthcare, with 56 percent of respondents expressing confidence that health provider and/or health insurance industries have the appropriate infrastructure in place to protect them from the impacts of cyberattacks. Only 52 percent feel confident in consumer-facing industries (such as financial services and retail) with men being slightly more confident than women (55 percent to 48 percent).

Overall though 78 percent believe it's easy for cybercriminals to breach an organization while 73 percent believe most organizations lack good controls over who has access to their computer systems and data.

"The results of the survey clearly demonstrate heightened awareness of cybercrime across the general public who identify increased reliance on third-party workers as a leading cause of the surge in data breaches," says Pignolet. "Given that many enterprise organizations provide access to significantly more third-party workers, including their supply chains, than full-time employees, it's imperative they adopt comprehensive third-party identity risk management solutions to not just protect themselves and their assets, but safeguard customers from financial loss, the exposure of personally identifiable information, and the downstream effects of disruption to our country’s infrastructure. This includes the food supply chain, utilities, and even our national security."

You can read more on the SecZetta blog.

Photo credit: Tashatuvango/Shutterstock