"IBM: Ransomware Attacks Take Psychological Toll on Incident Responders"

According to a survey conducted by IBM and Morning Consult, hundreds of cybersecurity incident responders reported that ransomware attacks have had a significant impact on their mental health. In July, researchers interviewed over 1,100 cybersecurity incident responders about their experiences dealing with cybersecurity incidents, and 81 percent stated that the rise of ransomware had worsened the psychological demands related to cybersecurity incidents. According to Laurance Dine, global lead of incident response at IBM Security X-Force, ransomware has changed the stakes because of the immediate disruption, financial loss, and public damage it can cause to businesses. Every minute a manufacturer's assembly line is down, the CEO knows how much money the company is losing, and incident responders are made well aware of it. Targeted ransomware attacks have become more aggressive, with critical services topping the list of ransomware actors' targets. When incident responders are aware that they may be the only thing standing between a malicious actor and someone being able to heat their home, get to work, or stock grocery shelves, the pressure mounts quickly. The IBM study discovered that most incident responders were drawn into the cybersecurity industry by a desire to protect, but this sense of responsibility is also one of the most stressful aspects of incidents. The top stressors during cyber incidents, according to roughly half of all respondents, were a sense of responsibility toward their team/client and managing stakeholder expectations. Responding to cyber incidents causes stress and anxiety in more than three-fourths of the respondents in their daily lives. As a result of responding to cybersecurity incidents, approximately 65 percent of respondents sought mental health assistance. This article continues to discuss findings from the new security incident responder study. 

The Record reports "IBM: Ransomware Attacks Take Psychological Toll on Incident Responders"