Avanan | Blog

Cybersecurity Burnout Increasing Due to Ransomware Threat

Written by Jeremy Fuchs | July 14, 2022

A new survey found that 45% of those in senior cybersecurity roles were considering leaving the industry altogether. The main culprit? Ransomware. 

Why? Responding to a ransomware attack is exhausting. Beyond scrambling to contain the threat, there's the agonizing decision about whether to pay the ransom.

And from there, as the survey found, it's not a guarantee that things will go back to normal. The survey, conducted by Deep Instinct, found that, of those that paid, only 16% had no further issues. 

Here's the thing: this is only going to get worse. The key is improving processes and tools to help those in these key positions. The more they decide this isn't for them, the more we all suffer. Already, another UK-based survey found that four in 10 cyber leaders say stress could cause them to leave their job in the next 12 months

One key to keeping folks in their jobs? AI. Being able to automate SOC processes through AI and ML is huge. And it means doing so in an effective way. According to the survey, 26% of professionals turned off alerts because it's too much. 

We hear this all the time. The best way to prevent this alert fatigue is to stop the attacks in the first place. SOC teams spend 23% of their just managing the email threat, let alone the rest of their attacks. Reducing that key attack vector is a huge way to reduce fatigue.