Cybersecurity professionals are increasingly working weekends – and many are willing to quit
A report from Bitdefender shows that more than two-thirds (70%) of cybersecurity professionals often work weekends to address security issues, leading to widespread job dissatisfaction and potentially negative impacts on business resilience.
The survey among 1,200 cyber professionals in Great Britain, the US and Germany (via Infosecurity magazine) revealed significant burnout among cybersecurity workers, leading to alarmingly high turnover rates within the industry.
Bitdefender revealed that Britain is the most affected country, with four in five (81%) security workers saying they often work weekends.
Cybersecurity workers are tired of overtime
Nearly three-quarters (71%) of British workers are now looking for new work within the next year.
More specifically, almost all German workers surveyed who often work on weekends are looking for a job change. The figures stand at 77.1% for those who work weekends, and 76.6% for those considering a new job.
US workers are in a similar position, with 70.2% working weekends, but fewer than two in three (62.2%) want to change jobs, indicating a slightly higher level of acceptance for overtime and unsociable hours.
The increased pressure on employees is in response to increasing cybersecurity threats – more than half (57%) reported that their organizations had suffered a data breach in the past year, an increase of 6% from 2023.
Top threats included phishing and social engineering (33%), software vulnerabilities (32.2%) and ransomware (29.3%). Nearly all cybersecurity professionals surveyed (96%) also expressed concern about the impact of artificial intelligence on cybersecurity.
Despite the seemingly desperate situation, most (94%) of respondents said they were confident in their organization’s ability to respond to threats – a huge increase from 54% last year.
However, while companies appear to be weathering the storm of cybersecurity threats, the intense workload is detrimental to employee health, which could be detrimental to companies’ cyber resilience. Looking ahead, the report highlights the emerging trend of partnering with external cybersecurity experts to alleviate pressure on their teams.