Is Burnout A Badge of Honour in Cybersecurity?

On the 13th April 2026, several vendors and analysts sat down with CISOs from some of the country’s leading organisations at the IT Security Analyst and CISO Forum to discuss everything from AI and automation to mental health and quantum security. 

We’re covering the key takeaways and themes from the event in an exploratory series for the Eskenzi blog. Today, we start with burnout, a topic that surprisingly dominated several of the conversations throughout the morning. 

Burnout and Budgets: Who’s Responsible? 

What’s promising is that cyber professionals, especially CISOs, want to talk about burnout. This is a trend that’s becoming increasingly reflected across the press, as well as social media and podcasts. Cyber professionals are becoming more vocal about the pressures they’re facing, where those pressures are coming from and the support that they need to stop it. The fact CISOs are speaking out also means that there’s valuable c-suite support and understanding. 

This should mean that the ‘needle’s moving’ (for lack of better expression) and, surely, change is imminent, right? 

The problem, according to CISOs, is turning talk into action. No one quite knows whose problem burnout really is or which ballpark it falls into. The budget isn’t there for dedicated solutions to battle the problem, despite the cost of untreated burnout being significantly higher. Getting wellbeing tools past HR seems to be okay, but getting them past the CFO is almost impossible.  

If the c-suite can’t magic up more time for staff or money for these tools, what’s the solution? This, like most discussions of late, brings us to the potential of AI. Could it be the silver bullet in banishing burnout? 

Tooling: Can AI help? 

There’s no short answer and CISOs seem to be split. We’ll cover ‘AI hype’ in a later blog though. 

One thing that will always pique the interest of the board, however, is the potential for increased productivity. Businesses are under so much pressure to deliver, especially when it comes to AI adoption, but leaders don’t take into account the stress that this puts staff under. Microsoft research revealed that 84% of organisations say they are using AI for competitive advantage, as prominent leaders like Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, publicly say that ‘reinvention’ in the age of AI is essential to avoiding ‘obsolescence’. No pressure. And if you’re not openly supportive of AI? Well, that just won’t do. 

Yet, on the other hand AI tools can help in the plight against workplace stress and burnout. A tool like Copilot, for example, can help you coordinate inboxes and distil emails. This isn’t removing the job of the human, rather it’s helping the human make the best use of their time and become more efficient. It’s easier to sell the idea of a ‘shiny new’ AI tool to those who hold the purse strings than a holistic solution, even if they both ultimately boost productivity in equal measure.

What’s clear, according to the discussions held, is that there is space for technology, especially in a climate that demands you to scale or do more, fast. Yet, according to CISOs, understanding how you can get the most out of AI tools is a job in itself. The time and training needed to get the most out of these tools makes it almost impossible to use them to their full potential. 

Your toolbox could be full, but if you’re only using the hammer because you don’t know how to use a screwdriver, your life is going to be significantly harder when you’re trying to build something with screws. More on that in a later edition.

But if AI can make me more productive, will it not take my job? Well… 

Going Above and Beyond? 

The current industry (and economic) climate provides the perfect conditions for burnout to run rife. Threats have increased, layoffs are rampant across the industry, morale is on a downturn and AI is definitely going to take your job, or so ‘they’ say. This, naturally, adds another layer of pressure to already stressed teams. Prove your worth (and ideally above it) or lose your job. The stakes are high. If you’re not seen to be working at 120%, are you even working?

Alarmingly, what CISOs are finding is that burnout is fast becoming a badge of honour. To hit rock bottom is a sign that you’ve sacrificed more. The CISOs admit that you never see senior leaders post-5pm, unless it’s an emergency, but there’s almost an expectation for junior staff to stay late and prove their allegiance to the company. They suggest calling out this behaviour: what’s so important?  

On top of this, CISOs admit that there’s an underestimation on how much extra pressure some tasks put on staff. Training, for example, is expected but hard to fit in when there’s not enough time in the day already. Managing teams across time zones also makes maintaining life/work balance hard. There’s a cost to going above and beyond. 

What’s the solution then, if any?

Cultural Change: Famously Hard, but Necessary 

Whilst it’s clear that there’s no single or ‘right’ solution, ultimately a healthier industry comes down to culture change, like most things in cyber (but culture change is famously hard). We need to move beyond words and work towards action. 

The ‘solution’ will vary from person to person. Everyone’s different and requires different types of support. Critically, it’s not imperative that this support comes from the top down. At any stage, we can look out for our peers. Resilience is people first. 

What’s important is that burnout is one area that we can’t – and shouldn’t – shortcut. There’s no ‘quick fix’ for cultural change. We all want six minute abs, as one CISO put it.