Cybersecurity Survey: Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) and System Availability

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. This collection of data is for a study that I am conducting as part of my Capstone research project for my Master’s degree in Cybersecurity.

This survey is designed to understand your experiences and perceptions regarding Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) and System Availability (SA). Your participation will help us understand how ZTA and SA impact your job role and responsibilities.

Note: 1) You may end the survey at any time, 2) participation in the entirety of the survey is optional, as each question is optional.

Question Title

* 1. What is the highest level of education that you have completed?

General Educational Development (GED)

High School Diploma

Associates Degree or International Equivalent

Some College

Bachelor's Degree or International Equivalent

Master's Degree or International Equivalent

Doctorate Degree or International Equivalent

Postdoctoral Education and Research

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 2. Please select your years of professional experience in IT, Cloud Computing, or Cybersecurity (combined):

0-5 years

6-10 years

10-15 years

15-20 years

Over 20 years

Question Title

* 3. Please select any relevant certifications that you hold, related to Cloud Computing/IT, or Cybersecurity:

AWS certified cloud practitioner (or similar AWS certificate)

Certified cloud security professional (CCSP)

Certified data privacy solutions engineer (CDPSE)

Certified data professional (CDP)

Certified ethical hacker (CEH)

Certified information security manager (CISM)

Certified information systems security professional (CISSP)

Cisco certified internetwork expert (CCIE)

Cisco certified network professional (CCNP)

CompTIA (A+, Cloud+, Security+)

Google Cloud Engineer (Cloud DevOps Engineer, Cloud Developer, Cloud Architect)

Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect (or similar Azure certificate)

Microsoft certified solutions associate/expert (MCSA/MCSE)

Information technology infrastructure library (ITIL)

Oracle database and MySQL administration certifications

Project management professional (PMP)

RedHat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)

Splunk Administrator (or similar)

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 4. What is your industry sector?

Question Title

* 5. Please select your job role in the industry (if multiple roles, select all that apply)

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or Equivalent Executive Leadership

Vice President or Equivalent Executive Leadership

Engineering or IT Director - Strategy

Engineering or IT Director - Technical

Chief Information Security Officer or Equivalent (and/or acting CISO or C-CISO certified)

Business Information Security Officer or Equivalent (and/or acting BISO or CISM certified)

Security Manager or Equivalent (and/or CISM certified)

Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO)

Technical Program Manager

Technical Product Manager/Owner

Technical Project Manager

Technical Manager

Project/Product/Program Management - Other (non-technical and not hands-on)

Systems Architect

Cloud Solutions Consultant - Enablement (Sales, Customer Operations, Support)

Cloud Solutions Consultant - Engineering (Customer Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Operations Engineer)

Systems Integration Analyst

Software Engineer

Systems Engineer

Network Engineer

Systems Administrator

Network Administrator

Procurement Manager

IT Helpdesk/Support

Cloud or IT Technician

Cloud or IT Apprentice

Cloud Account Manager

Cloud or IT Intern

Cyber Forensics Subject Matter Expert

Blue Team Security Consultant - Penetration Tester, SIEM engineer, or similar

Red Team Security Consultant - Certified Ethical Hacker, Cyber Software Engineer, or similar

Cyber Incident Handler

Intellectual Property Lawyer, or Patent Attorney (SME)

Patent Examiner (USPTO Examiner or Equivalent)

Intellectual Property Consultant (Patent Prosecutor, Patent Paralegal)

Technical Writer

Academic Researcher - Engineering or IT (graduate level or above)

Academic Researcher - Engineering or IT (undergraduate or lower)

Independent IT/Cloud/Cyber Consultant

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 6. Please state your job responsibilities in two sentences or less.

Question Title

* 7. Organization Type

Sole Proprietorship

Partnership

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

Corporation (C or B types: Number of owners >= 1 and broad range of ownership; company is subject to corporate taxes)

Corporation (S type: No more than 100 shareholders; owner is subject to personal tax)

Cooperative

Non-Profit

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 8. Organization size

Microenterprise (1-9 employees)

Small Enterprise (10-49 employees)

Medium-sized Enterprise (50-249 employees)

Large Enterprise (250 employees or more)

Question Title

* 9. Organization Location: In what city do you work?

Question Title

* 10. What gender do you identify as?

Question Title

* 11. How much do you know about Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA)? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very little knowledge (e.g., very few concepts) and 5 being very knowledgeable (e.g., architected and implemented several ZTA solutions, and are a SME on the topic).

Question Title

* 12. How much do you know about System Availability? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very limited knowledge (e.g., very few concepts) and 5 being very knowledgeable (e.g., architected and implemented High Availability or Reliability solutions several times, and are a SME on the topic).

Question Title

* 13. At a high level, what does Zero Trust Architecture mean to you?

Never trust, always verify

Implement least privileged access

Assume the network is hostile

Other (please specify)

None of the above

Question Title

* 14. At a high level, what does System Availability mean to you?

High Uptime

Access

Failover

Performant

Reliability

Redundancy

Load Balancing

Yields correct output

Other (please specify)

None of the above

Question Title

* 15. Please rate your familiarity with the following ZTA components on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not at all familiar and 5 being very familiar:

	1 - Not at all familiar	2 - Somewhat familiar	3 - Familiar with the concepts, but never implemented	4 - Familiar with the concepts and implemented	5 - Very Familiar with the concepts and implemented multiple times
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 1 - Not at all familiar	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 2 - Somewhat familiar	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 3 - Familiar with the concepts, but never implemented	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 4 - Familiar with the concepts and implemented	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 5 - Very Familiar with the concepts and implemented multiple times
Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 1 - Not at all familiar	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 2 - Somewhat familiar	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 3 - Familiar with the concepts, but never implemented	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 4 - Familiar with the concepts and implemented	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 5 - Very Familiar with the concepts and implemented multiple times
Network micro-segmentation	Network micro-segmentation 1 - Not at all familiar	Network micro-segmentation 2 - Somewhat familiar	Network micro-segmentation 3 - Familiar with the concepts, but never implemented	Network micro-segmentation 4 - Familiar with the concepts and implemented	Network micro-segmentation 5 - Very Familiar with the concepts and implemented multiple times
Observability, Security Analytics, and/or SIEM	Observability, Security Analytics, and/or SIEM 1 - Not at all familiar	Observability, Security Analytics, and/or SIEM 2 - Somewhat familiar	Observability, Security Analytics, and/or SIEM 3 - Familiar with the concepts, but never implemented	Observability, Security Analytics, and/or SIEM 4 - Familiar with the concepts and implemented	Observability, Security Analytics, and/or SIEM 5 - Very Familiar with the concepts and implemented multiple times
Vulnerability Scanning	Vulnerability Scanning 1 - Not at all familiar	Vulnerability Scanning 2 - Somewhat familiar	Vulnerability Scanning 3 - Familiar with the concepts, but never implemented	Vulnerability Scanning 4 - Familiar with the concepts and implemented	Vulnerability Scanning 5 - Very Familiar with the concepts and implemented multiple times

Question Title

* 16. IMPACT: Rate the effectiveness of the following ZTA components in helping you perform your job duties on a readily available and reliable system.

Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not effective at all and 5 being very effective.

	1 - This has a negative impact on my system and my work and creates incidents or outages regularly	2 - This has little to no effect in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	3 - This is moderately effective in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	4 - This has been very effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work	5 - This component is critically effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 1 - This has a negative impact on my system and my work and creates incidents or outages regularly	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 2 - This has little to no effect in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 3 - This is moderately effective in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 4 - This has been very effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work	Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies 5 - This component is critically effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work
Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 1 - This has a negative impact on my system and my work and creates incidents or outages regularly	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 2 - This has little to no effect in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 3 - This is moderately effective in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 4 - This has been very effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work	Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy 5 - This component is critically effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work
Network micro-segmentation	Network micro-segmentation 1 - This has a negative impact on my system and my work and creates incidents or outages regularly	Network micro-segmentation 2 - This has little to no effect in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Network micro-segmentation 3 - This is moderately effective in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Network micro-segmentation 4 - This has been very effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work	Network micro-segmentation 5 - This component is critically effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work
Observability, Security Analytics, or SIEM	Observability, Security Analytics, or SIEM 1 - This has a negative impact on my system and my work and creates incidents or outages regularly	Observability, Security Analytics, or SIEM 2 - This has little to no effect in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Observability, Security Analytics, or SIEM 3 - This is moderately effective in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Observability, Security Analytics, or SIEM 4 - This has been very effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work	Observability, Security Analytics, or SIEM 5 - This component is critically effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work
Vulnerability Scanning	Vulnerability Scanning 1 - This has a negative impact on my system and my work and creates incidents or outages regularly	Vulnerability Scanning 2 - This has little to no effect in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Vulnerability Scanning 3 - This is moderately effective in helping keep the system stable enough for me to do my work	Vulnerability Scanning 4 - This has been very effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work	Vulnerability Scanning 5 - This component is critically effective in keeping the system stable enough for me to do my work

Question Title

* 17. Which of the following ZTA principles have affected your information system’s availability the most? Please select all that apply.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) methodologies

Identity Governance or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Policy

Network micro-segmentation

Observability, Security Analytics, and/or SIEM

Vulnerability Scanning

Question Title

* 18. How has ZTA affected your ability to perform your job duties?

If possible, provide specific examples.

Question Title

* 19. Please rate the following statements on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree.

	1 - Strongly Disagree	2 - Disagree	3 - Neutral: Neither Agree nor Disagree	4 - Agree	5 - Strongly Agree
ZTA has significantly improved the security and availability of the systems I rely on to perform my job.	ZTA has significantly improved the security and availability of the systems I rely on to perform my job. 1 - Strongly Disagree	ZTA has significantly improved the security and availability of the systems I rely on to perform my job. 2 - Disagree	ZTA has significantly improved the security and availability of the systems I rely on to perform my job. 3 - Neutral: Neither Agree nor Disagree	ZTA has significantly improved the security and availability of the systems I rely on to perform my job. 4 - Agree	ZTA has significantly improved the security and availability of the systems I rely on to perform my job. 5 - Strongly Agree
ZTA has made my job somewhat easier.	ZTA has made my job somewhat easier. 1 - Strongly Disagree	ZTA has made my job somewhat easier. 2 - Disagree	ZTA has made my job somewhat easier. 3 - Neutral: Neither Agree nor Disagree	ZTA has made my job somewhat easier. 4 - Agree	ZTA has made my job somewhat easier. 5 - Strongly Agree
Due to the amount of zero trust security within my organization’s information systems, I feel confident that my organization's system is secure, but ZTA has neither improved nor hindered system availability or my ability to perform my job.	Due to the amount of zero trust security within my organization’s information systems, I feel confident that my organization's system is secure, but ZTA has neither improved nor hindered system availability or my ability to perform my job. 1 - Strongly Disagree	Due to the amount of zero trust security within my organization’s information systems, I feel confident that my organization's system is secure, but ZTA has neither improved nor hindered system availability or my ability to perform my job. 2 - Disagree	Due to the amount of zero trust security within my organization’s information systems, I feel confident that my organization's system is secure, but ZTA has neither improved nor hindered system availability or my ability to perform my job. 3 - Neutral: Neither Agree nor Disagree	Due to the amount of zero trust security within my organization’s information systems, I feel confident that my organization's system is secure, but ZTA has neither improved nor hindered system availability or my ability to perform my job. 4 - Agree	Due to the amount of zero trust security within my organization’s information systems, I feel confident that my organization's system is secure, but ZTA has neither improved nor hindered system availability or my ability to perform my job. 5 - Strongly Agree
ZTA has increased my efforts, resources, and workload.	ZTA has increased my efforts, resources, and workload. 1 - Strongly Disagree	ZTA has increased my efforts, resources, and workload. 2 - Disagree	ZTA has increased my efforts, resources, and workload. 3 - Neutral: Neither Agree nor Disagree	ZTA has increased my efforts, resources, and workload. 4 - Agree	ZTA has increased my efforts, resources, and workload. 5 - Strongly Agree
ZTA has created significant outages and has made my job significantly harder.	ZTA has created significant outages and has made my job significantly harder. 1 - Strongly Disagree	ZTA has created significant outages and has made my job significantly harder. 2 - Disagree	ZTA has created significant outages and has made my job significantly harder. 3 - Neutral: Neither Agree nor Disagree	ZTA has created significant outages and has made my job significantly harder. 4 - Agree	ZTA has created significant outages and has made my job significantly harder. 5 - Strongly Agree

Question Title

* 20. How has ZTA helped you in your job role?

It has not impacted my job role, but rather, it stands as a requirement to meet security criteria.

It has slightly impacted my job role and environment, but it is negligible.

It has created a noticeable amount of additional overhead to maintain, as the security components require a bit more effort, tooling, resources, and skills to implement in addition to my regular work. However, it has also created the most secure, resilient environment with high availability and reliability.

It has created regular incidents, outages, and tends to hinder progress on deliverables.

Its implementation has created more unplanned incidents than ever before and negatively impacts system availability and the ability for me to perform my job duties.

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 21. How has ZTA affected your organization's approach to security?

Question Title

* 22. What other areas or components of ZTA do you believe have a more significant impact on your organization's cybersecurity strategy?

Question Title

* 23. What is your perception of your organization's cyber readiness compared to others in the same industry?

Poor

Below average

Fair

Above Average

Excellent

Question Title

* 24. What is your perception of your organization's cyber readiness compared to existing threats in cyberspace?

Poor

Below Average

Fair

Above Average

Excellent

Cybersecurity Survey: Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) and System Availability

Question Title

* 1. What is the highest level of education that you have completed?

Question Title

* 2. Please select your years of professional experience in IT, Cloud Computing, or Cybersecurity (combined):

Question Title

* 3. Please select any relevant certifications that you hold, related to Cloud Computing/IT, or Cybersecurity:

Question Title

* 4. What is your industry sector?

Question Title

* 5. Please select your job role in the industry (if multiple roles, select all that apply)

Question Title

* 6. Please state your job responsibilities in two sentences or less.

Question Title

* 7. Organization Type

Question Title

* 8. Organization size

Question Title

* 9. Organization Location: In what city do you work?

Question Title

* 10. What gender do you identify as?

Question Title

* 11. How much do you know about Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA)? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very little knowledge (e.g., very few concepts) and 5 being very knowledgeable (e.g., architected and implemented several ZTA solutions, and are a SME on the topic).

Question Title

Question Title

* 13. At a high level, what does Zero Trust Architecture mean to you?

Question Title

* 14. At a high level, what does System Availability mean to you?

Question Title

* 15. Please rate your familiarity with the following ZTA components on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not at all familiar and 5 being very familiar:

Question Title

* 16. IMPACT: Rate the effectiveness of the following ZTA components in helping you perform your job duties on a readily available and reliable system. Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not effective at all and 5 being very effective.

Question Title

* 17. Which of the following ZTA principles have affected your information system’s availability the most? Please select all that apply.

Question Title

* 18. How has ZTA affected your ability to perform your job duties? If possible, provide specific examples.

Question Title

* 19. Please rate the following statements on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree.

Question Title

* 20. How has ZTA helped you in your job role?

Question Title

* 21. How has ZTA affected your organization's approach to security?

Question Title

* 22. What other areas or components of ZTA do you believe have a more significant impact on your organization's cybersecurity strategy?

Question Title

* 23. What is your perception of your organization's cyber readiness compared to others in the same industry?

Question Title

* 24. What is your perception of your organization's cyber readiness compared to existing threats in cyberspace?

* 16. IMPACT: Rate the effectiveness of the following ZTA components in helping you perform your job duties on a readily available and reliable system.

Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not effective at all and 5 being very effective.

* 18. How has ZTA affected your ability to perform your job duties?

If possible, provide specific examples.