Forbes discusses a study reporting stress in CISOs. The sensationalist headline, "Cybersecurity Mental Health Warning -- 1 In 6 CISOs Now Medicate Or Use Alcohol" does sum it up.
Imagine a survey with the question 'How do you deal with Stress?' having one of its options as 'MEDICATION' --- and this getting misread and selected by someone who performs MEDITATION...
Was one of the options "inappropriate humour"? That would be my choice ...
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The survey results (page 12) lists the categories from which one could chose. "Meditation or Prayer" was indeed a choice that got a 12% response rate.
There is plenty of useful information in the report itself (and the article). I found it disappointing that the headline emphasized the two least reported ways of dealing with stress.
My reading of the article was that the stress comes from a) a misunderstanding of the role b) from the 'always on' expectation and c) from a fear of job loss. If a CISO is working in an organisation which expects there never to be a breach, for them to be on call 24/7 and reacts to incident with threats of dismissal then it'll wear most people down over time.
----------------------------------------------------------- Steve Wilme CISSP-ISSAP, ISSMP MCIIS
