Cybercrime has become one of the most common and damaging forms of crime and international governments are scrambling to catch up. Every week brings a new exploit, and, for many companies, protections simply aren’t up to scratch according to Fortune. This demands innovation and a lot of activity from cyber tech companies, and this strain is being loaded on to their engineers and leaders. With this comes stress – something many cybersecurity professionals will be more than familiar with. Tackling it is key, given the long-term impacts it can have on work.
Stress impacting work
Stress has obvious impacts on your physical and mental health, but it could impact work performance to a greater degree than most might expect. The Wall Street Journal found that many decision makers in businesses were fatigued from the process of decision making itself – and that this was causing stress, and further detriment to their decision making ability. Finding methods to reduce stress throughout the working day will help to combat this effect, and preserve good decision making – simply taking a moment out of making decisions to drink water and go for a walk, for instance, will be hugely beneficial.
Long-term pressure
Small methods are helpful in an acute situation, but the threats posed to cybersecurity protocols are long-term and varied. The most recent exploit features physical hardware, according to CNN, with criminals mailing out compromised USB drives to businesses liable to be deceived. With new exploits every month, it’s important to start building long-term stress reduction strategies. Mindfulness, exercise and a regular sleep cycle are the building blocks, but real change has to come in working patterns.
Keeping perspective
Given the grave nature of cybersecurity threats and the pace at which they develop, it’s very easy to completely sacrifice the work/life balance and completely delve into the world of work with few breaks. Being assertive over your level of involvement, and choosing to switch off, will prevent stress building up. This psychological compartmentalizing, where you choose where to expend your stress and energy, is crucial to remaining healthy.
If you can minimize stress, you will improve your decision making. Clear heads are needed to face down the cyber security threat currently faced by the USA. That can only be achieved if leaders and innovators are confident enough to prevent the degradation of their own mental wellbeing.