Our Web-based survey used two proprietary data sets composed of privacy and information security professionals. Both require subjects to opt in prior to making contact. All data was captured through e-mail or letter invitation to a secure extranet Web site. The total sampling frame included 6,298 individuals. Of these, more than 91 percent were designated as information security specialists, and the remaining 9 percent were designated as information privacy specialists.

The total number of completed responses was 791, making a 13 percent response rate. 81 percent of the final sample is male, and 19 percent is female. We found that our subsample of privacy professionals is skewed toward female subjects.

What we learned

Here are some of the most interesting findings from our study:

-- Organizations that use encryption technology do so for the following reasons: electronic transmission of sensitive or confidential information (43 percent), electronic data on storage devices (30 percent), backup media (17 percent) and outbound e-mails (7 percent).