Cybersecurity professional burnout is costing £102M a year
Burnout among cybersecurity professionals is leading to a loss of productivity costing UK businesses £102 million a year, a new report from Hack the Box shows.
Their research, titled Building a firewall against cybersecurity burnout, revealed troubling trends around the mental health, stress, fatigue, and burnout about UK cyber-workers, and their disastrous economic affects.
To reach the sum of £102m, the skills company used the average daily wage of a cyber professional, and then calculating the average number of sick days taken, as well as the average number of days lost to poor productivity.
The stats, taken from the Infosecurity Institute, once calculated, revealed that UK businesses were losing $130m (£102m) a year, while counterparts in the US were losing $626m (£491m) from the productivity shortfall.
Hack the Box blamed only one culprit: employee burnout, citing a crisis in cybersecurity professionals’ mental health.
The swift continuous tirade of new technology, rushed adoption of AI, and escalating threats have lead to professionals pushing past exertion, often forced to complete tasks and battle threats outside of their normal wheelhouse.
According to the report, three quarters (74%) of employees have cited work-related mental health issues as reasons they have taken time off work.
Those directly in charge of security teams seem to be more aware of the problem: 90% of CISOs across the globe are concerned about the impact of stress on their team, while only 47% of CEOs share these concerns.
While CISOs are board members, there appears to be a disconnect from the very top, as 84% of cybersecurity professionals are suffering from stress, fatigue, and burnout.
With cyber-threats having risen 600% since the pandemic, these figures are likely to only be exacerbated by the exponential increase in complex cyber-threats enabled by advanced AI.
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About two-thirds (65%) of cybersecurity and professionals said they have experienced stress, fatigue, or burnout specifically citing a skill gaps and the pressure to perform beyond their capabilities.
Contributing to this is that over half (56%) of business leaders confirming that they do not invest in new tools to enable teams to do their roles more effectively.
This is driving 8% of cybersecurity professionals to consider quitting their jobs due to overtime, stress, burnout, and mental health challenges within their role.
