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Aussie cyber staff “world’s most stressed”: survey

9 Oct 2024

Aussie cyber security workers are the world’s most stressed, according to a survey by international tech professional association ISACA.


For its State of Cybersecurity 2024 report, ISACA surveyed 1,868 cyber security professionals from 102 countries, including Australia. They found that Australian cyber security workers are feeling more stressed in their jobs than their counterparts in any other country.


Overly Complex, Under Resourced

Respondents attributed the rising stress to Australia’s “increasingly complex threat landscape” and “continual under-resourcing” of their cyber security departments and roles. They reported lower budgets, higher hiring and retention challenges, and a more significant lack of prioritisation of cyber security risks than their global peers.

Nearly half of all respondents believed their company’s cyber security budget was inadequate, and only a third expected it to be increased in the year ahead.


As a result, most said they didn’t feel ready to combat the growing risk of a cyber-attack on their organisation.


Burnout

In a further worrying sign for Australian businesses, many cyber security professionals said the stress of their role had become so significant that they were considering moving on from their current organisation. Of those who had already left, 60% cited “stress” as the primary reason.


ISACA’s Director of Professional Practices and Innovation, Jon Brandt, urged Australian employers to better mitigate the stress of their cyber defenders.


“Employers (should) explore ways to support staff before burnout and attrition occur,” he said.


ISACA said the increasing complexity of cyber attacks required additional effort, energy and intelligence from cyber professionals. It characterised the need to stay ahead of new technologies and digital weapons as “all-consuming”, and this explained why cyber pros in Australia were feeling the effects of increased stress in their roles.


Most Australian respondents said they expected a cyber attack on their organisation during the next year. However, only 32% had a high degree of confidence in their team’s ability to detect and respond to the attack.


Cyber Stress Relief

Companies can take some of the load off their beleaguered cyber security staff by adopting automated, proactive and layered cyber defences. The goal is an always-on system which automatically secures, stores and transfers data, repelling cyberthieves before they gain access to company systems.


The foundation of such an approach is a technology called “Managed File Transfer” (MFT). Paired with secure content engines and secure digital rights management, MFT is an optimal way to prevent data theft and cyber breaches.


An MFT solution such as the class-leading GoAnywhere MFT keeps your organisation’s valuable data safe - at rest, and in transit. Coupled with an Advanced Threat Protection Bundle, it enables organisations to safely collaborate without exposing their systems or team to the risks of malware.


This automated defence system protects your organisation’s data in three key ways:


1. It prevents files containing malware from being received, by scanning all inbound files and automatically stripping out embedded malware, triggered executables, scripts, or macros.


2. It blocks sensitive data from being shared, by inspecting file contents and stopping protected data from being shared, based on policies you define.


3. It redacts sensitive information from files before they are transferred, detecting and/or removing geotags, document properties, email addresses, and other metadata from documents.


Local Help Available
As your company’s stressed cyber professionals are signalling, today’s interconnected business environment makes cyber attacks inevitable. However, foiling these attacks no longer requires draining manual cyber surveillance.

At Generic Systems Australia, we’ve helped hundreds of business leaders and IT teams across the Asia-Pacific region rest easier, knowing that their valuable data is protected by the automated sentries of GoAnywhere with Advanced Threat Protection.

We can do the same for you. It’s surprisingly affordable, and our Migration Services mean you can keep running your business without disruption as we you transition to a more secure approach.

In fact, we’re so confident that the capabilities and business case for installing an MFT solution stack up that we’ll even offer you a zero-cost Proof of Concept.


If you’d like to help take the load off your cyber security team, and explore how your organisation can automate its data transfer security, please feel welcome to contact me. I’m always happy to have an obligation-free discussion.


At Generic Systems Australia, we’re your local experts in Secure Managed File Transfer.


 

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