Burnout Burden: Why CISCOs Are At Breaking Point, What Needs To Change
Computerweekly, Tuesday, July 29th, 2025
CISOs face growing burnout as their roles expand beyond security, with high stress, low organisational authority, and short tenure. AI can help but change requires autonomy
Let's face it, no one talks about burnout in cybersecurity until it's already too late. The pressure for CISOs and security leaders has been quietly mounting for years. Late nights, increasing number of incidents, shrinking budgets, ever changing landscape of regulations and threats and the constant expectation to be everywhere and be across everything.
They're essentially tasked with playing whack-a-mole, but with moles that can breach, exfiltrate or steal valuable data to be held ransom, all while trying to translate the chaos to a boardroom that is pressed for time and even harder pressed for attention or budget. But when the inevitable breach or cyber incident does occur, the CISO is the one left holding the hammer.