A Roadmap to Address Burnout in the Cybersecurity Profession: Outcomes from a Multifaceted Workshop

TL;DR

This paper explores burnout among cybersecurity professionals through a multidisciplinary workshop, analyzing causes, consequences, and mitigation strategies, including empirical insights from NSA cyber operators and comparisons with healthcare.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive roadmap for addressing cybersecurity burnout by integrating empirical data, expert discussions, and cross-sector comparisons to guide future research.

Findings

High burnout levels threaten cybersecurity effectiveness.

NSA cyber operators' experiences offer valuable insights.

Cross-sector strategies can inform burnout mitigation.

Abstract

This paper addresses the critical issue of burnout among cybersecurity professionals, a growing concern that threatens the effectiveness of digital defense systems. As the industry faces a significant attrition crisis, with nearly 46% of cybersecurity leaders contemplating departure from their roles, it is imperative to explore the causes and consequences of burnout through a socio-technical lens. These challenges were discussed by experts from academia and industry in a multi-disciplinary workshop at the 26th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction to address broad antecedents of burnout, manifestation and its consequences among cybersecurity professionals, as well as programs to mitigate impacts from burnout. Central to the analysis is an empirical study of former National Security Agency (NSA) tactical cyber operators. This paper presents key insights in the following areas based on discussions in the workshop: lessons for public and private sectors from the NSA study, a comparative review of addressing burnout in the healthcare profession. It also outlines a roadmap for future collaborative research, thereby informing interdisciplinary studies.