As the debate around encryption plays out in headlines and courtrooms, a large majority of participants in a new study overwhelmingly said they view encryption as positive.
When asked what word they most associate with encryption, nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of respondents chose “security,” while 24 percent chose “privacy.” Four percent chose “threat.”
The survey, which queried 500 people in the U.S. over the age of 18, was conducted by email data protection company ZixCorp.
“As the debate regarding encryption and backdoors continues, it's interesting to see how the public perceives the technology – especially with the amount of coverage it's currently receiving in the media,” said David Wagner, CEO of ZixCorp.
But, not everyone is aware of when they're using encryption. While the majority of respondents (95 percent) said they believe their sensitive information should be encrypted online, only 43 percent said they had [knowingly] used the technology.
