Beyond Burnout: What Is Cybersecurity Doing to Us?

Source: Dark Reading

Author: Sara Peters

URL: https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/beyond-burnout-what-is-cybersecurity-doing-to-us–

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:

Cybersecurity professionals face mental health challenges from stress and isolation, leading to burnout, impacting both personal and organizational safety.

MAIN POINTS:

  1. Cybersecurity professionals continually experience stress, isolation, and burnout.
  2. CISOs often work more than their contracted hours, impacting their health and relationships.
  3. Observing cybercrimes deeply affects mental wellbeing, resembling PTSD symptoms.
  4. Many infosec roles are misunderstood within organizations, leading to unrealistic expectations.
  5. Stress can be exacerbated by workplace culture and lack of proper support.
  6. Fear-based security messaging can reduce effectiveness and increase user anxiety.
  7. The concept of “psychiatric engineering” poses new threats to stressed security workers.
  8. Organizations are encouraged to incorporate mental health support into incident response.
  9. Empowering professionals with resources and a sense of mission enhances wellbeing.
  10. Understanding attackers as fellow humans can alter perceptions of stress in cybersecurity.

TAKEAWAYS:

  1. Enhancing mental health support and recognizing stress risks in cybersecurity is crucial.
  2. Balancing cybersecurity duties with personal life requires organizational change and support.
  3. Communication and culture changes are key to reducing stress in infosec environments.
  4. Tools and strategies for stress management need promoting within cybersecurity teams.
  5. Viewing adversaries as human may shift approaches to cybersecurity stress management.