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nCircle Survey at Black Hat Reveals Majority of IT Security Pros View 'Hacktivists' as Villains, Altering Strategy in Wake of Increased Breaches

When asked "Are 'hactivists' like Anonymous and LulzSec heroes or villains?" , 36% of respondents believe them to be heroes, while 64% view them as villains.

Respondents indicate that the increased number of breaches perpetrated by hacktivists is altering in-place security programs. A majority - 89% -- says they are paying more attention to security and/or looking for additional ways to reduce risk in the wake of recent attacks by Anonymous and LulzSec. Only 11% have made no change to their activity or strategy as a result of these breaches.

Respondents were evenly split when asked "In your opinion, have there been more data breaches in 2011 or just more media coverage of data breaches?" Fifty percent believe there are more breaches, while the other 50% feel an increase in media coverage has created the perception that breaches are on the rise.

Oliver Lavery, director of security research and development for nCircle commented: "It seems that even in a security oriented crowd not very many people are sympathetic with the agenda or methods of these new hacktivist groups. At the end of the day, however, Anonymous and LulzSec are clearly raising awareness about how vulnerable are systems are, and that at least is a positive outcome."

About nCircle

nCircle is the leading provider of automated security and compliance auditing solutions. More than 5,500 enterprises, government agencies and service providers around the world rely on nCircle's proactive solutions to manage and reduce security risk and achieve compliance on their networks. nCircle has won numerous awards for growth, innovation, customer satisfaction and technology leadership and has been ranked among the top 100 best places to work in the San Francisco Bay Area. nCircle is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with regional offices throughout the United States and in London and Toronto. Additional information about nCircle is available at www.ncircle.com.

nCircle is a registered trademark of nCircle Network Security, Inc. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.

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Shev Rush
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shev@shevrushpr.com