Human skill and expertise singled out as the most important element in cyber resilience
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- Published: Friday, 21 February 2020 09:03
More than 40 percent of respondents in the latest poll run by Infosecurity Europe singled out human skill and expertise as the most important element of a successful cyber resilience approach. The aim of the poll was to explore the importance of resilience in cyber security.
The next key cyber resilience element identified in the survey was ‘implementing best practice’ at 22.5 percent; and 20.1 percent said that ‘governance and compliance’ were key elements.
Paul McKay, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, and a speaker at this year’s Infosecurity Europe, commented:
“Undoubtedly human skill and expertise is the most important element of a cyber resilience approach. You can have all of the technology and best practice approaches deployed in the world, but ultimately successful cyber security relies on the skills, ingenuity and cognitive ability of the human brain. Many of my clients have gaps in their security team caused by difficulties in finding enough people to fill open roles on their teams. This impacts them critically both in progressing their security program, but more importantly, the mental, physical health and wellbeing of everyone else who are often doing heroic work making up for gaps in their teams. I don’t think I’ve ever seen security professionals under this much pressure.”
The poll examined the repercussions of the pressures faced by workers, asking information security workers the question have you ever made significant mistakes as a result of being overstretched or stressed at work? Over half said yes, with 26.8 percent saying ‘yes, significant errors’, while a further 31.9 percent said ‘yes, minor mistakes’. A quarter (25 percent) said no and 16.2 percent didn’t know.
Employee mental health and wellbeing should be an essential consideration for all employers and none more so than those working in information security but is enough being done? Responses to the question does your organization provide mental health support to its employees who are responsible for dealing with a cyber security data breach or attack were resounding with 45.5 percent answering no, 31.6 percent didn’t know and just over a fifth (22.8 percent) said yes they were being offered support.
Cyber resilience will form a core theme for Infosecurity Europe 2020, which takes place from 2nd-4th June at Olympia, London.
