A new survey by McAfee shows that company managers may want to take more responsibility for data backup, as they are largely unaware as to how secure their company's information is at a data center.

According to information released this week, which surveyed 147 enterprise data managers responsible for data centers, 22 percent reported that management is aware of the company's security preparedness.

"It's astounding that almost two-thirds of our respondents say that their management is in the dark about their true security status," Dan Olds, principal analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group, who performed the study. "This is something that should cause a lot of thought both in the executive suite and in the data center."

Olds said that management needs to seek out the truth when it comes to IT security and data center management needs to be frank and honest when discussing how secure their mechanisms are. Olds said it is better to discuss security matters before a data backup emergency arises.

The report also found that more than 40 percent of respondents feel their organization's security pace isn't keeping up with threats.