29 Cyber Security Survey Questions for Employees

2. Phishing Awareness and Email Security Survey

Catch risky clicks before they happen

Why & When to Use

This cyber security questionnaire helps you measure how employees perceive phishing threats and whether they can recognize common warning signs in real life.

Use it after phishing simulations, after a spike in suspicious email activity, or before targeted training rolls out.

Plus, it fits neatly into a broader cybersecurity annual questionnaire when phishing risk is one of your biggest concerns.

Here’s the thing: people often feel confident about spotting scams right up until a fake invoice or login page shows up wearing a very convincing mustache.

This format works well for a security awareness survey because it reveals perception, not just technical knowledge.

That matters because confidence and competence are not always the same thing.

Your questions should cover multiple attack channels, including:

• email phishing

• SMS phishing

• voice phishing

• fake login pages

• messages in collaboration tools like Slack or Teams

On top of that, look at responses by role.

Finance, HR, and leadership often face more targeted attacks, so role-based patterns can make your cyber security survey questions far more useful.

You can also use the findings to shape follow-up content, including a cyber security test for employees, a security awareness quiz for employees, or future cyber security awareness training for employees questions and answers.

Sample questions

1. How often do you reuse passwords across work and personal accounts?

2. Do you use a company-approved password manager for work credentials?

3. How easy or difficult is it for you to complete multi-factor authentication during your workday?

4. Have you ever shared a work account password with a colleague for convenience?

5. Do you know how to request, change, or remove system access when job responsibilities change?

NIST research found user context strongly drives phishing susceptibility, so employee surveys should assess confidence, cues recognized, and role-based risk—not just knowledge (source).

3. Password, Authentication, and Access Control Survey

Spot convenience habits that quietly create risk

Why & When to Use

This cyber security questionnaire helps you understand how employees actually handle passwords, MFA, and access requests, not just what the policy says they should do.

Use it when you are rolling out a password manager, MFA, single sign-on, or updated access rules.

Plus, it is especially useful during access governance reviews, where a cyber security questionnaire for employees can uncover gaps that audits alone may miss.

Here’s the thing: people rarely say, "I enjoy unsafe shortcuts," but convenience has a sneaky way of winning by lunchtime.

Keep the wording non-judgmental so people answer honestly instead of defensively.

That means asking about real behavior and usability barriers, not just rule awareness.

Your survey should explore areas like:

• password reuse across systems

• approved password manager adoption

• MFA friction during daily work

• password sharing for convenience

• access request and removal knowledge

On top of that, use responses to find where policy noncompliance may be driven by friction.

If employees struggle with repeated MFA prompts, confusing access workflows, or slow approvals, the issue may be process design, not just awareness.

That makes this a strong fit for a cybersecurity annual questionnaire, a cyber security test for employees, or follow-up cyber security survey questions tied to access control improvements.

Sample questions

1. Do you regularly use company-approved devices and secure connections when working remotely?

2. How often do you install updates on your work laptop, phone, or tablet as prompted?

3. Do you use public Wi-Fi for work tasks, and if so, what precautions do you take?

4. How do you protect your screen and devices when working in public or shared spaces?

5. Are you clear on the rules for storing or accessing company data on personal devices?

4. Remote Work, Device Security, and Safe Work Habits Survey

Catch the everyday risks that travel with your team

Why & When to Use

This cyber security questionnaire helps you see how employees actually work outside the office, including at home, on the road, and in shared spaces where habits matter just as much as policy.

Use it for hybrid teams, distributed companies, frequent travelers, and any bring-your-own-device setup where work can happen from a kitchen table, airport gate, or coffee shop with suspiciously confident Wi-Fi.

Plus, this section works well in a cybersecurity annual questionnaire because it reveals real-world risks that technical controls may not fully show.

Here’s the thing: a locked office is predictable, but remote work has more moving parts than a charger bag on Monday morning.

Your survey should explore areas like:

• use of company-approved devices and secure connections

• update habits for laptops, phones, and tablets

• public Wi-Fi behavior and safety precautions

• screen privacy in public or shared environments

• personal device rules for company data

• USB device use and mobile work habits during travel

On top of that, good cyber security survey questions should uncover both behavior and environmental constraints.

For example, if someone skips updates, uses personal devices, or works on public Wi-Fi, the problem may be convenience, unclear rules, or limited secure options.

That makes this section useful for a cyber security test for employees, a security awareness survey, or broader cyber security questionnaire planning tied to modern work habits.

Sample questions

1. How confident are you in identifying confidential, sensitive, or regulated company data?

2. Do you know the approved methods for sharing files containing sensitive information?

3. How often do you check whether a recipient is authorized before sending confidential data?

4. Are you familiar with your company’s rules on storing, printing, or disposing of sensitive information?

5. Which data handling scenarios do you find most confusing in your day-to-day work?

A global remote-work study found 30% of employees let someone else use their work device, highlighting the need to survey everyday device-security habits (HP Wolf Security Report).

5. Data Handling, Privacy, and Compliance Survey

Turn policy knowledge into safer daily decisions

Why & When to Use

This cyber security questionnaire helps you measure how well employees understand data classification, privacy responsibilities, and the rules around handling sensitive information without turning the survey into a legal lecture.

It fits especially well for regulated industries, teams working with customer records, payroll data, contracts, or internal documents, and any company that recently updated privacy or compliance policies.

Plus, it earns a strong spot in a cybersecurity annual questionnaire because data handling mistakes are often small, human, and very expensive. One wrong recipient can create a bigger mess than a coffee spill on a keyboard.

Your survey should explore areas like:

• identifying confidential, sensitive, and regulated data

• approved ways to share files and records securely

• checking recipient authorization before sending information

• storing, printing, and disposing of sensitive materials properly

• day-to-day situations employees find confusing

Here’s the thing: scenario-based cyber security survey questions usually get better answers than vague policy questions.

Ask about realistic moments involving customer data, payroll files, contracts, and internal reports so you can spot where confidence is real and where it is mostly hopeful.

On top of that, this section can overlap with an information security quiz for employees or a cyber security test for employees, but the survey itself should focus on habits, confidence, and confusion points.

Use what you learn to sharpen policy language, improve security awareness survey content, and update training where employees actually need it.

Sample questions

1. Do you know what types of events should be reported to the security or IT team?

2. How comfortable would you feel reporting a mistake that could create a security risk?

3. Do you believe reported security concerns are handled quickly and seriously?

4. How easy is it to find the correct process for reporting suspicious activity?

5. What would make you more likely to report a cyber security concern immediately?

6. Incident Reporting and Security Culture Survey

A strong reporting culture catches trouble before it gets comfy

Why & When to Use

This cyber security questionnaire helps you find out whether employees feel safe, ready, and motivated to report suspicious activity, mistakes, or possible incidents.

It works especially well after tabletop exercises, phishing simulations, a real event, or anytime you want to strengthen security culture without sounding like the office alarm clock.

Here’s the thing: even the best cyber security test for employees will miss a major problem if people stay quiet when something feels off.

That makes this a smart addition to a cybersecurity annual questionnaire, especially if you want to uncover hidden blockers like fear of blame, confusion about what counts as reportable, or reporting channels that move at turtle speed.

Your survey should explore topics like:

• what employees think should be reported to security or IT

• how comfortable people feel admitting mistakes or near-misses

• whether reported concerns are taken seriously and handled quickly

• how easy it is to find the right reporting process

• what would make faster reporting more likely

Plus, healthy security culture matters just as much as technical know-how.

On top of that, you can segment answers by managers versus non-managers to spot gaps in psychological safety, no-blame messaging, and trust in follow-up.

Use the results to improve reporting workflows, strengthen your security awareness survey, and lower incident impact through faster detection and better employee engagement.

Sample questions

1. Is each question tied to a clear security objective or decision?

2. Are the questions written in plain language employees can understand?

3. Does the survey distinguish between awareness, behavior, and confidence?

4. Will the results show which teams or topics need targeted support?

5. Have you limited the survey length enough to maintain completion rates?

7. Best Practices for Writing and Running Employee Cyber Security Surveys

Good survey design turns answers into action

Why & When to Use

This section helps you build a cyber security questionnaire that gives you useful answers instead of a pile of polite guessing.

Use it when you are planning a cybersecurity annual questionnaire, refreshing a security awareness survey, or improving a cyber security test for employees that currently feels more confusing than helpful.

Here’s the thing: if your survey is vague, too long, or packed with jargon, employees will rush through it faster than free donuts in the break room.

A strong cyber security survey questions set should be short, clear, and tied to decisions you can actually make, like where training is weak, which teams need support, and whether people understand policy versus just nodding at it.

Aim to separate awareness, behavior, and confidence, because those are not the same thing.

Plus, this makes your cyber security awareness training for employees questions and answers far more useful when you review trends over time.

Use these quick rules:

• Tie every question to a risk, policy, or training goal.

• Keep wording simple, neutral, and easy to scan.

• Mix scaled, multiple-choice, and open-ended formats.

• Protect anonymity when possible to get more honest answers.

• Compare results over time, not just once.

Avoid these common mistakes:

• Turning every survey into a cyber security quiz for employees.

• Asking leading, vague, or double-barreled questions.

• Making the survey too long.

• Collecting answers without a follow-up plan.

• Assuming confidence means secure behavior.

Sample questions

1. Which survey findings point to the highest-risk employee behaviors?

2. What issues appear across multiple departments or employee groups?

3. Which topics require awareness content versus hands-on training?

4. Where do employees lack knowledge, and where are policies simply too hard to follow?

5. How will you measure improvement after acting on the survey results?

8. How to Turn Survey Results Into Training and Policy Improvements

Survey results matter only when you actually use them

Why & When to Use

This final section helps you turn a cybersecurity annual questionnaire from a reporting exercise into a practical improvement plan.

Use it when you have finished a cyber security questionnaire and need to decide what to fix, what to teach, and what to simplify.

Here’s the thing: a cyber security test for employees is not the finish line. It is the starting signal, and now the useful work begins.

Start by ranking findings based on business risk and how often the issue appears.

If one weak behavior shows up across teams, that deserves faster attention than a rare low-impact mistake.

Then map each gap to the right response:

• Use awareness content for knowledge gaps and misconceptions.

• Use hands-on practice for skills employees need to perform correctly.

• Use policy updates when rules are unclear, unrealistic, or too hard to follow.

• Use a security awareness survey follow-up to confirm whether the change worked.

Plus, the results can shape future cyber security quiz for employees content, especially where you need focused knowledge checks.

On top of that, review whether your cyber security survey questions are uncovering behavior, confusion, or process friction, because each one needs a different fix.

The practical takeaway is simple:

• Survey.

• Analyze.

• Act.

• Measure.

• Repeat regularly.

That loop is how your cyber security questionnaire starts pulling its weight instead of just collecting dust.

How to Turn Survey Insights Into Action

The real win is not collecting answers, it is turning them into safer habits

Why & When to Use

Use this step after your cyber security questionnaire, security awareness survey, or cyber security quiz for employees is complete and you are ready to act on what people told you.

Here’s the thing, even great cyber security survey questions only help if they lead to clearer decisions, better habits, and fewer avoidable risks.

Prioritize Findings by Risk and Behavior

Sort results into practical buckets so you can act faster.

• High-risk behaviors, like unsafe file sharing or ignoring phishing red flags

• Low-confidence topics, like MFA, password hygiene, or reporting suspicious activity

• Process barriers, like unclear reporting steps, slow tools, or remote work confusion

Start with issues that carry the most risk and show up often, especially phishing reporting, MFA friction, risky sharing habits, and remote work gaps.

Match Actions to Survey Results

Low awareness should trigger education, while confusing workflows should trigger process fixes.

On top of that, use role-based training, manager reinforcement, simpler policies, and targeted reminders so your information security quiz for employees leads to action, not just spreadsheets having a little nap.

Build a Continuous Improvement Cycle

Run follow-up surveys after training or policy changes to check progress.

Plus, compare your cybersecurity questionnaire results with incidents, support tickets, and simulation data to see what is actually improving.

The best cyber security questionnaire and security awareness quiz for employees are the ones that create measurable gains in behavior, culture, and risk reduction.