By Don Phipps, CEO and Founder, Applied Marketing Research
In the second quarter of 2018, Applied conducted for “business to business” (B2B) and “business to consumer research” (B2C) research on behalf of global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab.
Q: When it comes to the collection and use of my personal information, I trust the antivirus and cybersecurity provider I use to behave in an ethical manner
As Kaspersky Lab indicates in a white paper on the study:
The research was undertaken in the US, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK. Respondents were recruited by Research Now and the data was analyzed by Applied Marketing Research Inc., on behalf of Kaspersky Lab. The fieldwork was conducted online in May/June 2018. There were two main sample groups: consumer and business. The consumer group comprised 6,000 respondents (1,000 in each market), all of whom were adults who use computing technology (smartphones, laptops, tablets etc.) with security software installed. The business sample comprised 600 companies (100 in each market) with between 51 and 500 employees, with all respondents holding IT security or related roles.
Applied translated the survey questionnaire from English into four languages – German, French, Spanish, and Italian. Once the survey was out of the field, Applied translated, coded and tabulated the open ends and then analyzed the data and produced the report.
The white paper demonstrates the scope of the research and all graphs and statements in the white paper were based on Applied Marketing Research analysis and reporting. The white paper can be viewed in its entirety here: https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/the-boundaries-of-trust/
While much of the study remains confidential, reveals some of the questions the study helped to resolve:
- Should security solutions be subject to deeper checks and controls than other kinds of software products and services?
- If so, should they be classified as critical national security assets, with individual governments taking responsibility?
- Or should it be left to market dynamics and the assumption that the best products and services will prevail? Or to businesses and consumers, allowing them to choose and use the products that are right for them?
Even though the study was compressed into a tight time frame, all results and reporting were delivered accurately and on time.