Cybersecurity Burnout and Organisational Culture with Yanya Viskovich & Eve Parmiter

Razorwire Cyber Security

Welcome to Razorwire! In today’s episode, we take a look at the often-overlooked issue of professional burnout within the cybersecurity field. Joining us are two esteemed guests: Yanya Viskovich, a cyber resilience authority, and Eve Parmiter, a clinical traumatologist and consultant, both of whom bring their interdisciplinary insights to our discussion.

Today's conversation uncovers the critical yet not-often-discussed crisis of burnout amongst our cyber defenders. Yanya shares her personal journey through the throes of burnout and her subsequent passion for addressing the human factors in cybersecurity and Eve gives us her clinical perspective, providing an in depth understanding of the steps that lead to burnout and how we can move towards prevention and recovery. Together, we explore strategies for cultivating an organisational culture that is resilient against burnout and the positive repercussions this can have on cybersecurity effectiveness.

Key Talking Points

Personal Insights from the Field: Yanya recounts her dynamic career path and the vulnerable moments of burnout she encountered during the global pandemic, offering listeners a glimpse into the human side of the cybersecurity equation.

Clinical Wisdom for Cyber Warriors: Eve, with her therapeutic background, maps out the psychophysiological terrain of burnout and provides actionable tactics for information security professionals to identify and manage their stressors before they escalate.

-Building a Burnout-Resilient Culture: Gain critical advice on creating strong, collaborative and health-focused workplace cultures that prioritise learning and vulnerability to fortify against cybersecurity threats as well as professional burnout.

Don’t miss out on this conversation, which is more relevant now than ever. Tune in to unlock techniques that will not only defend your organisation’s digital assets but also safeguard the wellbeing of its most valuable guardians - its people.

Embracing Failure for Cybersecurity Improvement:

"We need to have a tolerance for failure, but an intolerance for incompetence. We need to invite cultures that invite questions and difficult ones, and that invites people to challenge the status quo, to invite people to say, ‘yeah, I've noticed that something's wrong here’, or ‘I see this as a potential risk and I'm raising it.’"

Yanya Viskovich

Listen to this episode on your favourite podcasting platform: https://razorwire.captivate.fm/listen

In this episode, we covered the following topics:

- Appreciation of Crisis Management: A look into how the efforts of infosec professionals are often undervalued, especially when resolving critical issues during crises.

- Post-Lockdown Loss of Mentorship: An exploration of the pandemic's impact leading to the exit of experienced professionals from the cybersecurity field and the subsequent loss of mentorship for up-and-comers.

- Organisational Culture and Failure: The importance of creating supportive cultures within organisations that encourage learning from mistakes and destigmatising failure.

- Human Factor in Cybersecurity: Highlights the crucial role of considering human behaviour and psychology in cybersecurity strategies, alongside technology and process optimisation.

- Stress and High Burnout Rates: Insights into the abnormally high stress levels within the cybersecurity industry, leading to significant burnout among professionals.

- Industry's Perception on the 'Department of No': Discusses the challenging perception of infosec teams as constructionistic.

- Power of Recognition: We discuss the role of recognition and appreciation in mitigating work-related stress and improving employee satisfaction.

- Burnout and Operational Effectiveness: The use of the Critical Incident Technique as a framework for understanding work-related stressors and developing strategies to improve burnout and operational effectiveness.

- Burnout Recovery and Resilience: How individuals can recover from burnout and leverage the experience to grow stronger and more resilient to future stressors.

- Risk and Response to Burnout: Arguments are made for including professional burnout as a significant risk in organisational risk registers and developing multifaceted strategies to prevent and respond to it in the cybersecurity sector.

Guest Bios

Yanya Viskovich

Yanya Viskovich is a cybersecurity expert specialising in the human factor. A TEDx and Fortune 500 keynote speaker and Senior Manager in Security Consulting at Accenture Switzerland, Yanya advises and presents to CISOs, C-Suites and Boards on how to reduce human security risk and enhance security cultures, and conducts executive cyber crisis simulations. Her March 2023 TEDx talk, "Why Burnout Culture is a Cyber Risk", has been instrumental in raising awareness about the impacts of stress and burnout on organisational cyber risk and resilience. She is a former cybercrime prosecutor, has advised the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner, trained law enforcement agencies, and held diverse senior in-house roles in large multinationals and international organisations, including the United Nations, where she strategised and implemented crisis plans and data protection policies. Yanya also serves as Chair of Cyber Law & Governance at the Swiss Cyber Institute and as an expert ethics advisor to the European Commission. She regularly guest lectures at Swiss and European universities, and contributes to publications and professional standards on cybersecurity, AI, data protection, privacy, and data ethics. Yanya is an Australian Bar-admitted attorney and holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of International Relations, and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University; a Data Protection Officer certification from the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity at Maastricht University; executive certificates in cybersecurity management from MIT Sloan School and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and in applied computer science from EPFL.

Eve Parmiter

Eve works as a therapist, coach, and consultant. She focuses on power, potential, and performance, and the things that get in the way, like the misuse and abuse of power, and the wear and tear of what we choose to do, including workplace burnout.

She runs a successful private practice, and has worked with the military, public, and private sectors, with new recruits to C-suite and founders, and with world-class performers in sports and the arts.

Organisations and individuals work with Eve to make meaningful changes in their teams and lives. Improving performance, developing resilience, and building wellbeing all contribute to achieving high hard goals, rich connection, deep fulfilment, and have a positive impact on the bottom line.

She graduated with a First Class BScEcon in International Relations, and a Master’s Distinction from LSE. She holds a Black Belt in Jeet Kune Do, has worked as a professional actor, and is a trained Cognitive Hypnotherapist, clinical traumatologist, and NLP Master Practitioner.

Resources Mentioned

- Accenture

- United Nations

- UN High Commissioner for Refugees

- International Committee of the Red Cross

- "The Cyber Sentinels Handbook, A Primer for Information Security Professionals"

- World Health Organisation

Other episodes you'll enjoy

Preventing Burnout in Cyber Security

https://www.razorthorn.com/cyber-security-professionals-shortage-burnout-how-to-protect-against-it-razorwire-podcast/

SolarWinds’ CISO Under SEC Scrutiny: The Impact On The Infosec Community

https://www.razorthorn.com/solarwinds-ciso-under-sec-scrutiny-the-impact-on-the-infosec-community/

Connect with your host James Rees

Hello, I am James Rees, the host of the Razorwire podcast. This podcast brings you insights from leading cyber security professionals who dedicate their careers to making a hacker’s life that much more difficult.

Our guests bring you experience and expertise from a range of disciplines and from different career stages. We give you various viewpoints for improving your cyber security – from seasoned professionals with years of experience, triumphs and lessons learned under their belt, to those in relatively early stages of their careers offering fresh eyes and new insights.

With new episodes every other Wednesday, Razorwire is a podcast for cyber security enthusiasts and professionals providing insights, news and fresh ideas on protecting your organisation from hackers.

For more information about us or if you have any questions you would like us to discuss email [e-mail].

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