Cybersecurity professionals say their job is harder than ever, with 68% reporting it has become more difficult over the past two years, according to a new report.

The study, The Life and Times of Cybersecurity Professionals, Volume VIII, from industry body ISSA and analyst Omdia, surveyed 380 practitioners. It found that over 70% of respondents are facing workplace challenges linked to being locked out of key technology decisions.

Among the key challenges cited were that other groups such as IT operations and platform engineering are increasingly involved in cybersecurity (79%). Another was that tech decisions are made without the input of cyber, creating barriers to security adoption (72%).

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Work-related stress was another major theme of the report: 69% of respondents claimed work-life balance can be challenging. Nearly half (47%) have thought of leaving their role or the profession due to stress over the past 12-18 months.

The most stressful aspects of the job were cited as:

• Overwhelming workload (24%)
• Keeping up with the security requirements of new initiatives (23%)
• Fear of getting something wrong (22%)
• Constant emergencies and interruptions (20%)
• Finding out about IT initiatives begun without security oversight (20%)

The report also revealed that job satisfaction can be nurtured through a strong cyber commitment from leadership (39%), competitive financial compensation (35%), and better career support (35%).

Cybersecurity Programs Need Improvement

Only 29% of respondents rated their organization’s cybersecurity culture as advanced, highlighting major opportunities for improvement.

Respondents claimed their cybersecurity program could be most improved by increased training for IT and security pros (42%), investments in the right resources (37%), and improvements to GRC (36%) and cyber hygiene (35%).

Collaboration with the IT function could be best enhanced by embedding security staff into functional technology groups (44%) and by automating processes requiring collaboration between IT and security (41%), the report also revealed.

"Eight years of data point to the same conclusion," said Jimmy Sanders, president of ISSA. "The profession is struggling not because talent is scarce, but because organizations are not investing enough in the people they already have. That is the leadership opportunity in front of us right now."