91% of cybersecurity professionals suffer mental health issues at work

New research by Australian cybersecurity services company Sekuro has revealed that over 91% of cybersecurity professionals have suffered mental health issues during the past two years. The study surveyed 101 cybersecurity professionals and analyzed how increasing cyber threats following COVID-19 affected the mental state of professionals in the sector.

 

More than 51% of respondents claimed that their workplace’s poor culture and/or management practices were to blame for their mental health issues, while 50% attributed these issues to their jobs’ high-stress levels. Other important factors included a lack of security budget (41%) and the team’s lack of necessary skills (37%).

 

Additionally, more than a third of respondents claimed that “imposter syndrome” contributed to their mental health problems, which the authors noted could be attributed to elements like exaggerated expectations and a lack of teams’ understanding of how to handle difficulties. Interestingly, 28% of respondents say that working remotely has negatively impacted their mental health, citing a lack of social interactions and the blending of work and personal life.

 

Notably, respondents’ top concerns were unreasonably high expectations from their organization’s board of directors and executive leadership (44%), ahead of ransomware and malware attacks (35%) and data breaches (35%).

 

The results imply that mental health issues may worsen the shortage of cyber skills. Due to these problems, 37% of respondents left their cybersecurity jobs, and 9% completely changed their careers.

 

The majority of respondents (51%) believed that increasing resources and tools, replacing management personnel who contribute to poor mental health outcomes (34%) and giving employees the chance to provide feedback to the leadership team (26%) should be the top priorities when it comes to improving the mental health of cybersecurity employees.

 

Noel Allnutt, managing director of Sekuro, claimed that managing the technological repercussions of pandemics and wars, which accelerated digitization over the past few years, presented cybersecurity professionals with special challenges. As high-profile breaches caused executive leaders to sit up and take notice of the reputational and financial threats posed by cybercrime, the professionals tasked with combating an ever-evolving series of cyber threats came under intense scrutiny, he added.

 

The survey results unmistakably demonstrate how crucial having a board and leadership team that is cyber-aware can be in lowering stress levels among younger team members. Executive leaders can effectively inform cybersecurity priorities in an ‘upward’ manner. However, he added that there is also a strong incentive for the top executives to show sincere interest in and investment in company-wide cyber policies.