Defcon Survey: Hackers want more crypto, less NSA

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.batemanbanter.com/2013/10/defcon-survey-hackers-want-more-crypto-less-nsa/

By Elinor Mills
Bateman Banter
October 1, 2013

Hackers are an interesting bunch and somewhat predictable, if I may be so 
bold as to generalize. Before Defcon this summer, I asked all the hackers 
I know to participate in a survey about their opinions on a variety of 
security industry-related topics, and I asked them to spread the word 
through social channels. It’s taken me a month, but I’ve finally tabulated 
the results. Many of the findings aren’t shocking, but the passion the 
respondents have for their work is, frankly, inspiring.

The first thing I learned is that hackers don’t like long surveys. 
Actually, few people do. Maybe I needed to offer a reward for completing 
it. Granted, the survey had 34 questions, most multiple choice with a 
number of them soliciting essay answers. A whopping 96% of the respondents 
who started the online survey finished it. So, I’d like to say a heartfelt 
“Thank You!” to those 53 people who took the time to answer all the 
questions.

And before I dive into the results, I should probably get the demographic 
data out of the way first because I’d probably be seeing somewhat 
different responses from younger or less experienced hackers. The 
respondents’ ages ranged from a low of 27 years to a high of 68, with most 
in the 25-35 range and a median of 39. The average number of years of 
experience was 13.5, nearly evenly divided between researcher, IT 
professional, engineer/programmer and VP-level executive, and more than 
one-third work at a security provider. So this is a very savvy crowd. Now 
for the results...

[...]

--
Find the best InfoSec talent without breaking your
recruiting budget! Post a Job, $99 for 31 days.
Hot InfoSec Jobs - http://www.hotinfosecjobs.com/