FEATURE


cybersecurityeurope PAGE 42


The Coronavirus pandemic has added pressure to cyber security professionals’ stress loads. Executive colleagues should provide support.


EVEN BEFORE THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC CAUSED THEIR ANXIETY levels to soar to hazardous new heights, Europe’s senior cyber security practitioners were known to be subject to disproportionately high levels of occupational stress – stress that puts their mental health at risk. As reported in Cyber Security Europe’s Autumn 2019 edition, such burnout can cause acute harm at both organisational and individual levels. Directorate heads and chief offi cers, now closer than ever to cyber governance decision- making, should ensure that executive leaders are apprised of the situation.


GOES VIRAL Although it’s claimed that some ‘thrive on stress’, for most people


chronic mental pressure is an acknowledged performance inhibitor. With respect to cyber security, this is all to the favour of threat actors, because stressed-out CISOs do not lead well and/or do their jobs as eff ectively as possible – they become more liable to operational slip- ups and defective leadership. Thirty-one percent of chief security offi cers polled by Nominet’s latest CISO Stress Report said that stress had ‘aff ected their ability to do their job’. A stressed IT security work team is unable to watch-out for one of


its number who may show signs of inattention. Oversight suff ers, and mistakes are made in cyber defence administration that hackers could exploit. Daily concerns related directly or indirectly to Coronavirus compound an already barely tolerable situation. Coronavirus has, of course, caused disruption across many


occupations and disciplines, but has held acute resonances for the cyber security profession. The pandemic – and the concerns that


FACTS BRIEF COVID-19 RAMIFICATIONS ON TECHNOLOGY MARKETS


The Coronavirus outbreak and reaction to the pandemic will force organisations to radically reconsider all aspects of how they ‘operate and embrace technological investment’, including their


cyber security strategy. According to ABI Research’s report, Taking Stock of COVID-19, businesses ‘cannot do anything but make bold decisions to


STRESS


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