Wondering if infosec folks consider the risk of burnout to be an unavoidable part of cybersecurity roles?

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I actually spoke about it here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/where-have-all-cyber-security-pros-gone-amir-bormand/

With that, if firms are concerned about employee burnout, they will have processes in place to deal with it and avoid it.

If they want to run a sweatshop at the expense of their employee's mental health, then there will certainly be burnout.

Burnout is 100% avoidable, and it is management’s responsibility to ensure that.

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This is a leadership problem. Can be due to unrealistic expectations, poor culture, resourcing, technical debt... but they all trace back to leadership. Take care of your people, they will take care of you.

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To avoid burnout in the cybersecurity industry, professionals should prioritize work-life balance, set clear boundaries, practice stress-management techniques like exercise and mindfulness, engage in continuous professional development, and foster a supportive work environment that encourages breaks and recognizes achievements.

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We must ensure that we are leading by example on work/life balance. The stresses of cyber are hard to turn off, but if our people don't see us taking downtime to recharge, they won't either.

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We discuss cyber burnout regularly on the SSE Forum podcast. I think both the employee and employer has to take some responsibility for burnout. As employees we need to try and be aware of the symptoms, but so do our employers. We need to be able to take breaks when we feel we are getting overwhelmed.

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Honestly, saying that infosec folks are simply doomed to burn out sounds like an excuse for the inability to properly communicate the risks and consequences to the business. In my opinion, allowing my security team to burn out creates much higher exposure over much longer period of time than any limitation into the coverage of the infosec operations.

Wondering if infosec folks consider the risk of burnout to be an unavoidable part of cybersecurity roles?

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