The seventh annual Life and Times of Cybersecurity Professionals study continues to pinpoint many of the same issues as past editions, underscoring persistent challenges such as rising cyberthreats, IT complexity, ubiquitous vulnerabilities, heavy workloads, and difficulties embedding cybersecurity into organizational processes and cultures. Beyond illustrating cybersecurity problems, this year’s edition highlights specific areas where cybersecurity professionals suggest ways their organizations can alleviate the burdens on cybersecurity practitioners while simultaneously bolstering defenses and reducing risks.
Above all, the report’s most significant revelation is a crisis in cybersecurity leadership as organizations don’t provide adequate support for their cybersecurity programs or the professionals tasked with executing them. This is evident in areas like inadequate training of non-cybersecurity staff, the lack of integration between cybersecurity and other business functions, and ineffective human resources efforts to recruit specialized cybersecurity talent. Overall, the survey findings reveal immense pressures on CISOs and emphasize the urgent need for them to have a stronger voice at the highest levels of their organizations to advocate for necessary changes on each of these fronts.
This serves as the seventh such research project, dating back to 2016. All references to previous Enterprise Strategy Group and ISSA research in this report can be found in The Life and Times of Cybersecurity Professionals Volume VI.
To learn more, download the free report, The Life and Times of Cybersecurity Professionals Volume VII.
