A new study from the Australian non-profit cyber mental health support initiative, Cybermindz.org, shows early evidence of burnout in cyber professionals, indicating a potential loss of skills in a critical part of the economy.
The organization is quick to acknowledge that stress and burnout are not unique to cyber, but notes that systemic weaknesses in our human cyber defenses would tend to impact society at massive levels, especially if essential services such as water, power, telecommunications, health, finance, services, food distribution and transportation are affected.
As the nation digests the ongoing fallout from the Optus, Medibank and MyDeal breaches and others that are coming to light, the organization has warned that unless lawmakers acknowledge the mental health impacts on the workforce Australia’s beleaguered cyber, a deterioration in the mental health of core defenders can accelerate, creating a cascading effect of reduced effectiveness and increased risk.
While the investigation is ongoing and will run through the end of the year, Cybermindz founder and veteran internet industry leader Peter Coroneos explained the importance of noting the emerging trend by comparing it to “the canary in the coal mine.” of cybersecurity”.
He noted: “Most of our critical systems are now exposed to cyber risk; it is not hard to see that a reduction in our national cyber capacity due to psychological exhaustion can have downstream effects on the entire population. The pandemic, floods, and wildfires have shown us that the systems we rely on should not be taken for granted. Cyber attacks occur daily and, unlike natural disasters, there is no conceivable end point in sight.”
Mr. Coroneos added: “Cybersecurity workers are the unsung heroes of our time. Your daily work is invisible, but a single failure through a breach that can affect millions of people is news. The fast-evolving and relentless attack environment defies any sense of “job well done.” The only successful attack that could end his career could be just around the corner. They are mission driven with a strong protective spirit. But a sense of hopelessness will eventually take its toll on even the most committed worker. That is why it is important that we recognize their efforts and invest in their well-being. We must build a strong and resilient cyber workforce. If they fall, we all fall.”
Cybermindz.org Director of Organizational and Behavioral Research, Dr. Andrew Reeves, is leading the study.
Dr Reeves stated: “Although these are preliminary results, they do point to a worrying trend. On the key burnout metric of ‘professional efficacy’, or how well cyber workers believe they are performing in their current roles, they scored significantly worse than the general population. We also compared their burnout rates on this metric to another highly burned industry: frontline healthcare workers, and found that cyber professionals score considerably lower even than this group on this metric.
Dr Reeves added: “This is concerning as this metric is a predictor of intention to quit. As a result, I believe we are seeing early signs of a cohort of practitioners questioning their own efficacy and concluding that their efforts are in vain. When good people leave the industry, we lose a lot of knowledge and experience. Then the pressure increases on those left behind. As a psychological driver of burnout, it’s something we should all be concerned about.”
