The IT Security decision makers of today are a hard bunch to pin down. Considering the huge range of pressure that they face with the advancement of technology having greatly expanded the corporate attack surface, there lies the burning question of where do they source their security news and where do they share their own?
This is why IT Security PR specialists Origin Communications commissioned Vanson Bourne to undertake a study to determine the media consumption behaviours and trends of the Information Security sector. Vanson Bourne, an independent specialist in market research for the Technology sector, interviewed a highly representative sample of 100 IT decision makers hailing from a range of sectors across the United Kingdom and discovered many notable results.
The findings from Origin Comms research determined that while traditional media such as online magazines and websites still remain popular, more tech-savvy sources may be gaining acceptance among IT Security Professionals which demonstrates the move towards more connected devices.
Sources such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Social Media are growing in popularity, with a significant amount of Information Security Professionals claiming that they would use them for general opinion, news, product reviews and announcements when asked where they would source their cyber security content in the next five years.
Newspapers (5%), TV (4%) and Radio (0%) are virtually ignored as news sources when it comes to the world of IT Security, with over half of the respondents voting their top news source as being IT Security Specific Websites (59%) instead.
The 89 (out of 100) respondents who claimed to use websites for IT Security were then asked which websites they utilised out of the 13 given options which included both IT Security Specific Websites (such as Infosecurity Magazine and SC Media/Magazine) as well as Nationals (including the BBC and The Guardian). TechCrunch (52%) and ITPro (51%) were at the top of the list. It is of particular interest that the highest ranked publications were all IT Security Specific Websites aside from the BBC which placed third with 46% of respondents reading it as a news source.
Media Consumption isn’t just about where we get our information but also how we access it and the time spent consuming any given article. Another point to draw attention to is the very small amount of time that Information Security Professionals have at their disposal. Origin Comm’s research found that respondents only spend an average of seven minutes reading an article, yet admitted to spending just under an hour researching a data breach when they hear about it. This supports why trade titles are unsurprisingly the go-to source for Information Security Professionals as they are industry specific and provide relevant information and so professionals spend less time consuming and utilising media by using them.
Please read our blog ‘Top Five Things to Remember when Targeting Security Professionals in the UK’ for more information regarding Origin’s findings in Media Consumption of IT Security Professionals. decision makers of today are a hard bunch to pin down. Considering the huge range of pressure that they face with the advancement of technology having greatly expanded the corporate attack surface, there lies the burning question of where do they source their security news and where do they share their own?
