Cybersecurity is a top concern for organisations in the digital age. Any lapse or breach of the enterprise network may result in loss of business, on top of reputation and customer confidence.
It is not surprising then that cybersecurity leaders are under intense pressure.
“Cybersecurity professionals are facing unsustainable levels of stress. CISOs are on the defense, with the only possible outcomes that they don’t get hacked or they do. The psychological impact of this directly affects decision quality and the performance of cybersecurity leaders and their teams,” said Deepti Gopal, Director Analyst of Gartner.
The research firm expects nearly half of cybersecurity leaders will change jobs, 25 percent for different roles entirely due to multiple work-related stressors by 2025.
Another major factor is the massive market opportunities for cybersecurity professionals. Talent churn poses a significant threat for security teams. Compliance-centric cybersecurity programmes, low executive support and subpar industry-level maturity are all indicators of an organisation that does not view security risk management as critical to business success. Such organisations are likely to experience higher attrition as talent leaves for roles where their impact is felt and valued.
“Burnout and voluntary attrition are outcomes of poor organisational culture. While eliminating stress is an unrealistic goal, people can manage incredibly challenging and stressful jobs in cultures where they’re supported,” said Gopal.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, lack of talent or human failure will be responsible for over half of significant cyber incidents. The number of cyber and social engineering attacks against people is spiking as threat actors increasingly see humans as the most vulnerable point of exploitation.
“CISOs must increasingly consider insider risk when developing a cybersecurity program. Traditional cybersecurity tools have limited visibility into threats that come from within,” said Paul Furtado, VP Analyst of Gartner.
Entelechy Asia 