Speakers
Synopsis
So, what's the problem we're looking to address?
National focus on Mental Health in the workplace has been receiving more of a focus in recent years. Especially in larger corporations, we are all broadly aware of Mental Health First Aid resources, taking walking breaks, and keeping a keen eye out for burnout within ourselves and our colleagues.
However, the picture is often very different in cyber. An IBM study in 2022 stated that 77% of cyber incident responders have a strong sense of duty to help and protect. That same study uncovered that the rise in ransomware has exacerbated the psychological demands of incident response for 81% of respondents. Most respondents had sought mental health assistance due to their experiences in responding to cyber attacks.
What's often overlooked, is how to manage this when you work in a critical operational role, such as a high-stakes front line global IR team. Here - the normal rules don't really apply when it's all systems go, all hands on deck, supporting the vast array of activities that come with managing a high severity critical business impacting incident. With inevitably long days, and tensions high, tired teams, and with jobs, business and reputations on the line, the standard corporate advice for managing stress and workload can be difficult to apply - especially when the business itself is at risk and loss of revenue unacceptable.
With this panel session, the team will be looking to offer real insight into the challenges and stressors of working in incident and crisis response, that may not be well known or recognised for those without the industry. Where the usual ways to maintain mental health at work don't apply - how do you save your sanity when you're working in a cyber crisis situation.
With their many years of front line incident response and security operations experience, where as a business your worst day is their standard operating environment, the panel will explore how they manage the stress and mental health in what is a high pressure but high reward industry. They will discuss their methods for pre-empting issues by looking for triggers, determining when they are at risk and how they manage to reduce the mental load to ensure they protect their most important asset - themselves.
The team will also discuss how mental health and stress management are a team effort, looking at how we can all look out for each other. This extends beyond just the operational team into the broader business team - whereby different strategies and level of support are required to ensure safety and success.
