Chief Information Security Officers â CISOs â surveyed by Nominet cope with high levels of stress that are causing nearly 20% of those polled to turn to medication or alcohol to deal with job pressures.
The survey of 408 CISCOs in the UK and US found 91% report that they suffer âmoderateâ or âhigh stressâ, with 60% saying that they ârarely disconnect from their job.â
Life Inside the Perimeter: Understanding the Modern CISO found that top techies are also working long hours: 88% of CISOs reckon that they are working more than 40 hours a week, while 22% say that they are also on-call 24/7.
Their punishing workloads are causing a physical response to their problems: 26.5% of those questioned say that stress is âimpacting their mental or physical healthâ, while 23% say the job is âeroding their personal relationshipsâ. Moreover, 17% of CISOs admitted to turning to medication or alcohol to cope with job stress.
This lack of engagement is with executive teams is another concern, as only 60% of CISOs polled believe that their CEO and/or President agrees that a cyber breach âis inevitableâ. Coupled with the fact that 32% of all those questioned believe that, in the event of a security breach they would either âlose their job or receive an official warningâ, and it adds significant individual pressure from within the business.
This is worse in the UK, the study found, as 37% of CISOs believe that they âwould receive a warning or be firedâ, compared with 28% in the US.
âItâs no surprise that CISOs face burn-out,â says Russell Haworth, CEO at Nominet. âMany lack support from within their organisations, and senior business leaders need to face the facts: the threats are real, and CISOs need to be given the resources and support to tackle them. If not, c-suites and boards must face the consequences.â
More information:
https://www.nominet.uk/life-inside-the-perimeter-understanding-the-modern-ciso/