Cyberattacks are more common than ever and are taking a toll on cybersecurity teams, a new study says.
An ISACA survey revealed that more than two-thirds (68%) of cybersecurity professionals say their work is more stressful than five years ago, which is affecting their well-being.
The reasons for this are fairly consistent: The cybersecurity landscape is changing so rapidly and becoming more complex that 40% say staff are not sufficiently trained and 47% cite challenges in the hiring and retention process.
Rising threats
Unsurprisingly, almost half say their budget is too low (45%) and a third say cybersecurity risks are not a priority in their organization. Although companies themselves admit that their cybersecurity teams are understaffed (61%), just under half have no entry-level positions available and 38% have no open positions of any kind.
Only just over a third (38%) of respondents felt a high degree of confidence in their team's ability to detect and respond to cyber threats, and 41% are experiencing increased numbers of attacks. The most common attack vectors were social engineering (16%), unpatched DoS (13%), and malware (12%).
This leaves industries vulnerable, Chris Dimitriadis, global strategy director at ISACA, adds: “In an increasingly complex threat landscape, it is vital that as an industry we overcome these obstacles of lack of funding and insufficient staff teams.” .
“Without strong, trained teams, the security resilience of entire ecosystems is at risk, leaving critical infrastructure vulnerable.”
It's no surprise that cybersecurity teams are stressed, as not only are attacks becoming more frequent and sophisticated, but they are also costing more to resolve. The average data breach now costs the victim over £3.5 million, and it looks like this figure will continue to rise in the future.