IT Security Pros Fear Brand Damage and Job Loss

A seemingly endless barrage of cyber-attacks and other digital threats is taking its toll on the IT security professionals who are charged with protecting the enterprise. Despite increasingly sophisticated security solutions, the number of breaches continues to grow, and the dangers are multiplying. For security practitioners, the pressure, stress and hazards are enormous. As the recently released "2016 Security Pressures Report" from Trustwave points out: "Security professionals are often overwrought with trying to ensure that every potential threat vector is sealed off—all while working with a diminishing pool of available in-house resources." The study of 1,400 global IT and security professionals found that the pressure on practitioners is growing, a cyber-security skills gap is becoming worse, and assembling the right strategy and collection of solutions is more difficult than ever. Consequently, the things security professionals most fear as a result of a breach are damage to the company's reputation and finances, and losing their job. Here are some of the key findings from the report.