The Great Resignation: Is it a Boon or Bane for the Cybersecurity Industry?

During the so-called Great Resignation, millions of Americans have willingly left their jobs during the last few months. As businesses struggle to locate adequate talent, employees feel empowered to demand greater remuneration or move to a different position. According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.3 million workers quit their employment in December, down from 4.5 million in November but still a sizable number.

The pandemic’s repercussions, which have resulted in what has been dubbed “The Great Resignation,” are having a significant influence on the worldwide workforce, with employers reporting difficulty exploring and retaining talent.

So, how would the Great Resignation, with a higher number of employees quitting in 2021 than in previous years, affect the cybersecurity sector?

Also Read: How CISOs can Effectively Handle Third-Party Security Risk Management

Defer in security-related decisions

Most businesses see cybersecurity as an afterthought, especially when it comes to expanding their firm, attracting new clients, and retaining current personnel. Security-related decisions, such as allocating budget, selecting the correct vendors, tools, platforms, and defining processes that would assist maintain cyber hygiene, are pushed to the side. The dearth of cyber hygiene has already facilitated attackers to establish catastrophic and destructive attacks on critical infrastructure. Attackers will be emboldened to plot and carry out fatal acts as a result of the decision-making stalemate.

Possibility of forgetting to remove a departing employee’s access

With fewer cybersecurity professionals in place, the risk of forgetting to remove some of a departing employee’s access grows considerably, especially as the number of resources to which employees have access grows. The longer the “hangover” time lasts, the bigger the company’s risk exposure. In the short run, the only answer to this problem will be to use automation to accelerate and fool-proof the deprovisioning process for departing personnel.

Also Read: How to Make Your Security Operations Center Future-Ready

CEOs quitting in big numbers

Unfortunately, the Great Resignation does not only affect mid-level executives but entrepreneurial CEOs are also resigning from the companies they started.

This is terrible news for a variety of reasons. While they wait for the proper leader to take over, interim CEOs of these organizations will put security-related decisions on hold, particularly choices involving vital security investments.

To keep their environment secure, security teams now require solutions that combine automation and intelligence with predictive analytics; without the correct tools, their existing resources will be subjected to tremendous stress and burnout, resulting in increased attrition.

Dissatisfied employees expose the Company’s network

Due to disgruntled personnel, the organization’s network will become increasingly insecure. As employees join and leave a firm, enterprises should always follow stringent onboarding and off boarding procedures to ensure that access is only granted when necessary and withdrawn as soon as people leave. To mitigate potential insider threats, network segmentation (access to only the information needed to accomplish the task) should also be common practice.

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