Linked – Always On Guard: The Mental Health Cost of Cyber Threat Awareness
I’m not sure we spend enough time hearing stories like this one:
This journey has revealed a rarely discussed aspect of cybersecurity careers and that is the emotional labor of constant vigilance.
As I read Alex’s story, I found myself thinking of the many similar stories I had read about the tech folks working with child sexual abuse materials online. Like them, the work never ends. The people you are fighting against are constantly coming up with new tools and tricks, and spending all day researching criminal and morally objectionable behavior is not a recipe for feeling good about the world.
It also reminds me of those who need to spend time on social media, whether to promote our work or because running social media for an organization is our job. It’s constantly changing, and you see a lot of terrible behavior from terrible people.
It can be exhausting and stressful. Although the constant stream of information and change might be what life is like in our world, this doesn’t make it less impactful on our mental health.
Alex shares some of his strategies. Reading them and considering what might work for you might be worthwhile.
Follow these topics: Mental Health
