IT pros feel the pressure to maintain organizations' security

As the number of breaches shows no sign of reducing, cybersecurity and development professionals are feeling the pressure to maintain their organizations’ security postures.

New research from Invicti Security finds DevSecOps professionals spend more than four hours each workday addressing security issues that never should have happened in the first place.

Meanwhile 41 percent of cybersecurity professionals are spending five or more hours addressing security issues compared to 32 percent of their developer counterparts.

Conducted along with Wakefield Research, the report is based on a survey of 500 cybersecurity professionals and software developers with at least a 'director' title within their organization. Surveyed individuals came from US enterprises with 2,000 or more employees.

All of this is taking its toll on those involved. After the last vulnerability is discovered, 81 percent of professionals say they are likely to already feel anxious about the next. Half of cybersecurity and development pros have had to log in over the weekend or on their own time, and one in three have called off a date or night out with friends. In fact, 41 percent of developers pulled out of a night out compared to 34 percent of their cybersecurity counterparts.

Despite this though professionals do believe they're having a positive impact. Because of their work, 65 percent of cybersecurity and development professionals believe they've saved their companies $1M+ this year by preventing breaches. In addition 94 percent agree that digital transformation and the move to a remote work model in recent years have made their role more valuable and rewarding.

Pride in the job means 88 percent say they would be proud to put 'cybersecurity expert' in an online dating profile -- though this may not go down well given their already cited tendency not to turn up.

"Moving to the cloud and the pressure to secure everything without slowing down business priorities has made cybersecurity and development professionals the unsung heroes of their organization," says Sonali Shah, chief product officer at Invicti. "But with strapped teams, organizations are struggling to retain talent. That's why it's critical to prioritize technology that protects the organization while also enabling collaboration, automating manual tasks, and in turn, promoting overall well-being."

You can find out more on the Invicti blog.

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