Cybersecurity incident responders report alarming rates of mental strain

Over three-fourths or 77% of cybersecurity incident responders in India experience extreme or considerable mental strain as a result of responding to a major cybersecurity incident, said a recent report.  

The report by IBM Security based on a survey of over 1,100 cybersecurity incident responders in 10 countries, including India, also said that ransomware has further increased the psychological demands of incident response for 94% of respondents in the country. 

Cybersecurity incident response is a high-stress, high-demand job that has a negative effect on mental health and wellbeing and these professionals provide the first line of defense after an attack is suspected or has been detected. The report noted that nearly 80% of global respondents get attracted to the field by a sense of duty to protect and opportunity to help others and businesses. 

However, the high demands of cybersecurity engagements also affect incident responders’ personal lives, with 68% of respondents in India experiencing stress or anxiety in their daily lives. Insomnia, burnout and impact on social life or relationships followed as effects respondents cited. Despite these challenges, the vast majority acknowledged that they have a strong support system in place. 

Mental health is a key concern in tech domain, especially for cyber security leaders and teams, given that the constant need for IT security teams to be on standby 24/7, on the edge of a disaster that can strike at any given time, thus increasing the source of stress. According to a 2020 survey done by security firm Nominet, 88% of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) reported feeling “moderately or tremendously stressed.” 

At the same time incidents of cyber-attacks are witnessing a dramatic growth, especially in the last two years. In 2021, a study done by IBM Security X-Force observed a 23% rise in cybersecurity incidents that engaged its incident response team during that year. 

Earlier this year, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reported 6.74 lakh cyber-incidents in India during the first half (H1) of 2022 alone. The report by CERT-In also observed a 51% increase in ransomware incidents in the country in H1-2022, with the IT sector the most affected when it comes to these attacks, followed by manufacturing and finance.