Cyber security can be stressful for everyone involved. With cultivating threats and increasing risk, burn out is a possibility for not only cyber security leaders but also all employees within a company.
“But at a time when strength and resilience have never been more important, burnout, low staff morale and high employee turnover could put businesses on the backfoot when attempting to manage the mounting cybersecurity threat.” (ZDNet).
Additionally, the pandemic can be partially blamed for not only the uptick in cyber threats, but also for being stressed and burnt out in general, which in turn makes one more vulnerable to cyber-attacks, creating a paradox of vulnerability.
“Over half (51%) of cybersecurity professionals are kept up at night by the stress of the job and work challenges, according to CIISec’s 2020/21 State of the Profession report. The survey of 557 security professionals found that stress and burnout have become a major issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is partly due to overwork — the study found almost half (47%) of respondents work 41+ hours a week, with some working up to 90.” (Info Security).
Human error increases along with stress levels.
“Burnout threatens cybersecurity in multiple ways. First, on the employee side. "Human error is one of the biggest causes of data breaches in organizations, and the risk of causing a data breach or falling for a phishing attack is only heightened when employees are stressed and burned out," says Josh Yavor, chief information security officer (CISO) at enterprise security solutions provider Tessian.” (ZDNet).
This has been proven in a multitude of studies.
“Additionally, 80% said that staff across organizations have been more anxious or stressed during the crisis. This is concerning as numerous studies have demonstrated that people are more vulnerable to being duped by cyber-criminals while feeling stressed or burnt out.” (Info Security).
Reframing the way cyber-security leaders lead, and the way employees learn about cyber-security, could combat this trend of burnout.
“A report by analyst Gartner recently argued that the role of the cybersecurity leader needs to be "reframed" from one that predominantly deals with risks within the IT department to one that is responsible for making executive-level information risk decisions and ensuring business leaders have comprehensive cybersecurity knowledge.” (ZDNet).
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Sources:
Info Security. https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/stress-burnout-cybersecurity/
