Emerging technologies continue to outpace organisations’ tools to defend against new, complex cyberthreats, according to a new report.
The evolving landscape has increased the responsibilities of employees tasked to mitigate the risks, fuelling burnout in overburdened teams, according to Cybersecurity Assessment Report 2024, produced by Romanian software company Bitdefender.
“Statistics reveal the depth of this issue, with more than 70% of security professionals working weekends, a clear indicator of burnout and overload,” the report said. “This intense workload correlates strongly with job dissatisfaction.”
The report, which surveyed over 1,200 IT and security professionals across six regions, including the UK and US, noted that 64% of security professionals are considering new job opportunities within the next year.
Nearly all respondents (96%) are concerned about artificial intelligence’s (AI) impact on the threat landscape, the report said. Fifty-seven per cent of organisations have experienced a data breach or leak in the last 12 months (up six percentage points from the previous year), and 44% of respondents identified data breaches or leaks as a “significant worry”.
As the landscape develops, organisations are also concerned about vulnerabilities related to unauthorised access to cloud services (42.7%), misconfigured cloud storage (42.2%), and insecure application programming interfaces (37.9%).
Most organisations surveyed understand that AI poses significant threats to security weaknesses, yet less than half (45%) are conducting regular audits, the report stated, which means that security measures are being outpaced by the adoption of cloud technologies.
“This balance is essential for ensuring that cloud environments are secure but also manageable and efficient, as many teams (48%) face significant skill gap challenges they address by implementing automated security tools,” the report said.
Generally, organisations are not prepared to navigate an increasingly complex risk landscape, the report noted. About two in five (42%) professionals engage third-party experts, highlighting a lack of internal expertise.
Staff that feel overwhelmed and underappreciated will leave, the report said. This snowball effect often leads to reduced effectiveness as overburdened teams are more likely to miss threats that could otherwise have been identified and mitigated.
“Amid these technological advancements, the human element remains a critical vulnerability,” the report said. “This chronic shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals not only puts additional pressure on existing staff but also compromises vigilance and overall security posture.”
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.
