The Watchtower

Cyber Burnout Is a Security Vulnerability

Episode Summary

Is security really failing or is it our Paleolithic brains?

Episode Notes

Is security really failing or is it our Paleolithic brains? 

It’s the 'responsibility-control paradox' eating CISOs alive

Peter Coroneos is the founder of Cybermindz.org, former head of Australia's Internet Industry Association, and one of the few voices in cybersecurity trained in both law and neuroscience. In this episode he explains why we're running paleolithic brains inside a 21st-century attack surface, why the industry's definition of 'resilience' is quietly draining its best people, and why AI is about to accelerate burnout before it eases it.

 

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Peter Coroneos on LinkedIn

Cybermindz.org

The Watchtower

 

Chapters

0:00 Is security really failing? Or are our paleolithic brains?

2:07 The brain in a bucket: how it all started

3:41 From neuroscience to internet law to cyber policy

4:50 Why Peter started seeing burnout in his peers pre-COVID

8:28 Alert fatigue and vigilance decrement inside the SOC

11:31 Paleolithic brain, meet 21st-century attack surface

11:55 The signal your brain never gets: no cue to de-escalate

12:09 The responsibility-control paradox that breaks CISOs

14:23 Why your brain can't tell virtual threat from physical

16:52 Stress takes your prefrontal cortex offline

18:53 Why Cybermindz stopped talking about wellness

20:00 Burnout is a lagging indicator

28:24 What actually changes inside teams that get support

28:46 Stress you can sustain if you design in recovery

38:35 Your best analysts don't lose skills. They lose access.

41:17 The AI accelerant: why burnout is about to get worse

45:44 What CISOs should do before the gap opens up