Research Methodology

    To gather data for the main part of this report, ESG conducted an online survey of security and IT professionals from the ISSA member list (and beyond) in North America, Europe, Central/South America, Africa, and Asia, between March 1, 2021, and April 7, 2021.

    After filtering out unqualified respondents, removing duplicate responses, and screening the remaining completed responses (on several criteria) for data integrity, we were left with a final total sample of 489 security and IT professionals.

    Please see the Respondent Demographics section of this report for more information on these respondents.

    Note: Totals in figures and tables throughout this report may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

    The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) would like to thank the supporting organizations that participated in this study to provide well-rounded insight and data across the field of cybersecurity. These partners include:

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)

    EC Council

    The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

    SANS Institute