The challenge of burnout is already rife , with 74 % of UK CISOs admitting to experiencing burnout in the past year .
Leveraging AI and ML will help with the prioritisation , reducing the noise and keeping focus on what is important .
editor ’ s question
?
lert fatigue
A undoubtedly impacts cyber professionals ’ ability to react effectively to real threats and can heavily affect company operations . When inundated and desensitised to alerts , security professionals may become slow to react to real , critical threats , resulting in more extensive damage , longer recovery times and increased costs associated with mitigating actual risks .
From an employee standpoint , alert fatigue can also create additional workload for those whose responsibility it is to monitor them . As they become overwhelmed with notifications , they may experience added work stress and tension , which may lead to higher burnout , turnover and decreased productivity . The challenge of burnout is already rife , with 74 % of UK CISOs admitting to experiencing burnout in the past year .
There ’ s also the legal and compliance issue . Security breaches resulting from overlooked threats due to alert fatigue can lead to inadequate compliance with industry regulations , potentially resulting in costly fines and potentially legal action .
In addition , as cybersecurity systems fail to filter and prioritise real alerts , organisations may need to allocate additional resources to manage the high volume of alerts , leading to increased operational costs .
Cybersecurity incidents resulting from alert fatigue can also be immensely damaging to an organisation ’ s reputation . Customers may lose trust in the company ’ s ability to protect their data , leading to customer attrition and revenue loss .
The challenge of burnout is already rife , with 74 % of UK CISOs admitting to experiencing burnout in the past year .
Organisations can take steps to minimise alert fatigue and improve the overall efficacy of cybersecurity :
• Establish thresholds to prioritise alerts based on severity . By setting priority levels for different types of alerts , security professionals can focus on the most critical threats . AI and automation can be your friend
MATT COOKE , CYBERSECURITY STRATEGIST AT PROOFPOINT here . Leveraging AI and ML will help with the prioritisation , reducing the noise and keeping focus on what is important .
• Professionals must not forget about the incident response plan , that should include a predetermined set of procedures and guidelines for responding to security incidents , such as identifying critical assets and systems , assigning an incident response team , determining incident response procedures and defining communication protocols . By continuously improving and updating the plan , security teams can ensure its relevance and effectiveness .
• Organisations should regularly review and fine-tune their cybersecurity systems to minimise the frequency of false positives and ensure only relevant alerts are triggered .
• By implementing systems to keep employees well-trained on security best practices , an organisation can reduce the possibility of human errors like falling for phishing scams or overlooking serious alerts . Thus , by promoting security awareness training among employees , companies can minimise alert fatigue . u
Leveraging AI and ML will help with the prioritisation , reducing the noise and keeping focus on what is important .
30 www . intelligentciso . com