Talking About the CISO Mental Health Crisis

For the past 20 years, I’ve served as CISO for companies across different sectors. In this role, I have shouldered responsibility for protecting each organization from a wide swath of rapidly developing cybersecurity threats. I have also learned firsthand how much stress security leaders face day-to-day.

Recent conversations with my peers have shown stress in cybersecurity is an industry-wide problem. The CISO role is one of the most stressful in any organization. And the security function—writ large across every company type and industry sector—stands on the precipice of a stress-induced crisis.

In a recent series of articles for Dark Reading, I specifically discussed the stress factors and sky-high expectations CISOs face, as well as the risks organizations face when the CISO is under pressure and what we can all do to defuse this situation.

Further adding to this conversation, I also participated in a recent webinar discussion about this looming CISO mental health with my colleague Mike Anderson, Netskope Chief Digital and Information Officer, and Neuroscientist, Dr. Marcia Goddard. In this webinar, we not only covered the big issues regarding mental health in the cybersecurity industry but also resources and strategies for how security leaders can better support their teams’ mental health and wellness in stressful times. 

To hear us discuss all of these subjects further in-depth, here’s a recording of the webinar.