Stress, burnout, rage, despair- all common experiences to many in the information security community. This panel will discuss the issues, compare and contrast them to other industries. We’ll also discuss how to recognize stress in ourselves and others, and steps that can be taken to combat it. We aren’t looking at medical or psychological cures, but rather what the average would call common sense approaches to dealing with stress in your life.
We will start with a presentation of common stress and burnout issues and triggers encountered in information security. These factors can be internal (for example, some of the personality types drawn to the field), external (harassment by coworkers, lack of respect by business), and cultural (stereotypes of “geeks”). The discussion will continue with a look at other high stress careers and examine what (if anything) we can learn from them. Many of the commonly considered “high stress” occupations, such as law enforcement, medicine, and military have much more visceral activities and responses- this must be considered when attempting to transfer lessons from these occupations to infosec.
The session will close with practical advice on managing stress and burnout- both in ourselves and others in the community. Throughout the presentations we will solicit audience participation.