American consumers are overconfident with regard to their cybersecurity knowledge, despite cybersecurity threats being as common and complex as ever. The Blumberg Capital 2017 State of Cybersecurity survey reveals that American consumers’ cybersecurity knowledge and concerns with reality are slightly disconnected, as around 60 percent of Americans believe they have never been a victim of cyber hacking or are unaware if they have.
The national survey asked American adults about their general knowledge of cybersecurity and about their perception of the biggest cybersecurity issues facing consumers, businesses and the United States government. The survey found that Americans believe their cybersecurity knowledge to be superior or equal to American leaders and those with specialized training. Eighty-two percent of those surveyed believe they know more about cybersecurity then their mothers, but the survey did not ask about appetite for risk. The majority of people don’t believe they’ve been hacked, although data shows otherwise, and 74 percent believe that a simple password change is ample protection. Additionally, the survey revealed: