PsyberResilience Project Survey on Stress & Burnout in the InfoSec Community

[Valerie Vogel <vvogel () EDUCAUSE EDU>]

Greetings EDUCAUSE Security CG members,

I would like to encourage our higher ed infosec community to review the PsyberResilience Project’s 
website<https://www.thepsyberproject.com/> and consider completing this brief 
survey<https://www.thepsyberproject.com/about-the-survey/> about stress, burnout, and mental health challenges 
affecting cybersecurity (and IT) professionals. The (anonymous) data will be used to start a conversation about the 
importance of “psyber resilience” as a security strategy:

  *   If your security team is mentally healthy, security will likely be better and easier – they’re more alert and 
engaged, less absent, more focused, less likely to burn out, less cynical about the job, and less likely to miss 
something important.

  *   If the security team or members are not mentally healthy and the stress is not being managed – they check out 
mentally, they become indifferent, apathetic, and cynical. They’re more likely to make mistakes or miss something, and 
they’re more likely to quit.

  *   Until the security skills shortage is solved, organizations should focus on maintaining the mental health, 
wellness, and resilience of the people they already have.

  *   This project is working to develop free tools for security leaders and employers – e.g., custom studies that 
businesses can use to measure stress and burnout in their own teams, private and anonymous discussion forums for 
employees to speak/share/vent, and tools to help maintain mental health.

  *   Mental health can also be a powerful marketing and recruitment tool. Taking care of your digital first responders 
is an ethical thing to do, and ethics is at the core of an organization’s brand, trust, and reputation.

  *   And as a job candidate, all other things being equal, would you be more attracted to a workplace that recognizes 
and addresses the unavoidable stress of the job, before it becomes burnout?

We hope this survey will help start valuable conversations in our community. EDUCAUSE is gathering resources on Mental 
Health and 
Wellness<https://library.educause.edu/topics/information-technology-management-and-leadership/mental-health-and-wellness>
 in our library, and we’ll have new resources to share next month (May is Mental Health Awareness Month). We’re also 
incorporating Mental Health Hackers into our Security Professionals Conference 2020 online event (June 2-4), so please 
stay tuned!

If you are interested in discussing the topic of mental health and wellness in the infosec community, please feel free 
to reach out to me directly. I’m always happy to chat.

Thank you,
Valerie

Valerie Vogel
Senior Manager, Cybersecurity Program

EDUCAUSE
Uncommon Thinking for the Common Good
direct: 202.331.5374 | Follow HEISC on 
LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/higher-education-information-security-council-heisc-/> | twitter: 
@HEISCouncil | vvogel () educause edu<mailto:vvogel () educause edu>

From: Security Discussion Group List <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> on behalf of Neal O'Farrell <nealjofarrell () 
GMAIL COM>
Reply-To: Security Discussion Group List <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>
Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at 8:28 AM
To: Security Discussion Group List <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>
Subject: [SECURITY] Survey on stress and burnout in cybersecurity

Hi everyone, we're conducting what we hope will be the most comprehensive study of the prevalence and impact of stress 
and burnout amongst security professionals, and we're inviting all Educause security group members to complete our 
short and private survey.

There seems to be a growing consensus that stress and burnout are now at chronic and critical levels in security, and 
as a result damaging not only the individuals but their employer's security posture.

And some recent studies, from Ponemon, Symantec and others, have found that nearly two thirds of security professionals 
have considered quitting the job, or the entire industry, because of stress and burnout.

We believe that many of the causes of stress and burnout in security can be managed, and at no cost, but first they 
have to be recognized, and ideally, measured.

That's the purpose of the study. It's just 20 questions, completely anonymous, and takes about 5 minutes to complete.

This link will explain more and connect you to the survey.
https://www.thepsyberproject.com/about-the-survey<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepsyberproject.com%2Fabout-the-survey%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C60c8d3cf361846f62cb408d7e151aef5%7Cdd4b037fe626495db0170cc0f7dddb37%7C0%7C0%7C637225613267683100&sdata=1V2NK3hdr0BnSxpQyxuKEK5LhkihvP3LcCAV4a3VfiU%3D&reserved=0>

If you have any questions, or want to share your own personal stories or experience, we'd love to hear from you.

And we'd love your input on the survey too. It's not scientific, and not for a specific control group, because we want 
to hear as many voices as possible (literally, not in our heads, although we'd like to hear about that too).

Many thanks.

Neal
===========
Neal O'Farrell
Founder, the PsyberResilience Project
www.ThePsyberProject.com<https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepsyberproject.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C60c8d3cf361846f62cb408d7e151aef5%7Cdd4b037fe626495db0170cc0f7dddb37%7C0%7C0%7C637225613267683100&sdata=dK3e2Z522%2B%2FtEX%2BYrCJBS%2BXpDu%2BGo9293LagT9WpHvY%3D&reserved=0>

(925) 914 0248 EST
nealjofarrell () gmail com<mailto:nealjofarrell () gmail com>

"Cybersecurity professionals are trying to save everyone. Does someone need to save them?"
Dark Reading, March 2020


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