diff --git a/cpp/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt b/cpp/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
index 0704180bad0..a815f6609e3 100644
--- a/cpp/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cpp/benchmarks/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ ConfigureBench(
   string/convert_durations.cpp
   string/convert_fixed_point.cpp
   string/convert_numerics.cpp
-  string/copy.cpp
+  string/copy.cu
   string/extract.cpp
   string/factory.cu
   string/filter.cpp
diff --git a/cpp/benchmarks/string/copy.cpp b/cpp/benchmarks/string/copy.cu
similarity index 83%
rename from cpp/benchmarks/string/copy.cpp
rename to cpp/benchmarks/string/copy.cu
index d40b0e069bc..2f064e71c44 100644
--- a/cpp/benchmarks/string/copy.cpp
+++ b/cpp/benchmarks/string/copy.cu
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2021, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+ * Copyright (c) 2021-2022, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-#include <benchmark/benchmark.h>
+#include "string_bench_args.hpp"
+
 #include <benchmarks/common/generate_input.hpp>
 #include <benchmarks/fixture/benchmark_fixture.hpp>
 #include <benchmarks/synchronization/synchronization.hpp>
@@ -23,10 +24,7 @@
 #include <cudf/strings/strings_column_view.hpp>
 #include <cudf_test/column_wrapper.hpp>
 
-#include <algorithm>
-#include <random>
-
-#include "string_bench_args.hpp"
+#include <thrust/shuffle.h>
 
 class StringCopy : public cudf::benchmark {
 };
@@ -47,11 +45,14 @@ static void BM_copy(benchmark::State& state, copy_type ct)
     create_random_table({cudf::type_id::STRING}, 1, row_count{n_rows}, table_profile);
 
   // scatter indices
-  std::vector<cudf::size_type> host_map_data(n_rows);
-  std::iota(host_map_data.begin(), host_map_data.end(), 0);
-  std::random_shuffle(host_map_data.begin(), host_map_data.end());
-  cudf::test::fixed_width_column_wrapper<cudf::size_type> index_map(host_map_data.begin(),
-                                                                    host_map_data.end());
+  auto index_map_col = make_numeric_column(
+    cudf::data_type{cudf::type_id::INT32}, n_rows, cudf::mask_state::UNALLOCATED);
+  auto index_map = index_map_col->mutable_view();
+  thrust::shuffle_copy(thrust::device,
+                       thrust::counting_iterator<cudf::size_type>(0),
+                       thrust::counting_iterator<cudf::size_type>(n_rows),
+                       index_map.begin<cudf::size_type>(),
+                       thrust::default_random_engine());
 
   for (auto _ : state) {
     cuda_event_timer raii(state, true, rmm::cuda_stream_default);