Application vulnerabilities top cybersecurity concerns among federal C-level officials, says a nonscientific survey released May 9 from security certification non-profit firm ISC(2).

The survey, conducted online earlier this year by Frost & Sullivan, received 145 responses from federal C-level executives, says a report containing the survey results.

Chief among their concerns about potential security threats, and by a significant margin, is application vulnerabilities. Cyber terrorism and hackers rated significantly lower.

Cloud-based services also ranked low. When asked specifically to list security concerns surrounding cloud computing, the most common response was worry about loss or leakage of confidential or sensitive data.

Frost & Sullivan predicts that the number of federal civil servants dedicated to cybersecurity will reach 61,299 in 2015, having increased at a compound annual growth rate of 17.8 percent starting in 2010, when the number of cybersecurity personnel numbered about 27,000.

For more:
- download the survey, "2011 (ISC)2 Global Information Security Workforce Study: A U.S. Government C-Level Perspective" (.pdf)

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