Research firm Dynamic Market has taken an interesting look at how IT employees are coping on the front lines of the information security war. The survey of 1,000 IT managers makes clear that the troops are feeling some combat stress. In fact, 72 percent say protecting company information is more stressful than getting a divorce, managing personal debt, or being in a minor car accident. Nearly 15 percent say losing their job would be less stressful than staying in their current job. The survey, commissioned by Websense, also found that 86 percent said that their job would be at risk if a security incident were to occur, including if a CEO or other executive's confidential data is breached (36 percent); if data needed for compliance is lost (34 percent); and if confidential information is posted on a social networking site (34 percent). So what to make off all this? Managers need to be aware of the job stress that their employees are feeling. While more money would be one obvious solution, that's not likely in the current environment. But there are lots of softer ways to make people feel appreciated; hopefully your HR folks will be full of them. It might be as simple as handing out iPads for jobs well done. At the same time, we have to be honest about the fact that the job is not easy and that all stressful situations are breeding grounds for resentment and anger. The flipside of this is that managers also have to be aware of the threat posed by disgruntled employees, especially IT employees with rights across the network.

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