A significant majority of survey respondents acknowledge the importance of top technology and policy best practices, yet far fewer say they are implementing them well – or at all. HID Global, a worldwide leader in secure identity solutions, released an infographic illustrating the results of a survey it conducted on physical access control.

The survey of 600 respondents revealed enterprise end users’ perceptions about change and the importance of industry best practices, and how well today’s technology and policy best practices are being implemented.

The attitudes uncovered in the survey affect how well organizations can defend against increasingly dangerous and costly security threats, both now and in the future.

“This survey raises questions about how well organizations are keeping up with the bad guys,” said John Fenske, vice president of product marketing, Physical Access Control with HID Global. “Complacency isn’t wise, however, and adherence to industry best practices will be increasingly critical in order to take advantage of the coming generation of technologies and capabilities, including mobile access control on smartphones. A reliance on legacy infrastructure, technology and mindsets will make it hard to keep up with today’s technology advances that address a world of increasingly sophisticated threats.”

HID Global’s infographic combines results from its survey with published data on security breaches and associated costs.

Key findings incorporated into the infographic include: Only 37 percent of users perform annual security assessments, and most users do not contract a third party to test their existing PACS. This means users either conduct their own security audits or penetration exercise internally, or do not test their systems at all.