Alert Fatigue Is a Big Cybersecurity Problem
Alarms and alerts surround us every day. From the moment our clocks wake us up in the morning, we rely on alarms for many things. But what happens when those alarms and alerts malfunction? What does it do to us and how does that affect our day to day life? Recall the Dallas Emergency Alert Malfunction.
As it turns out, getting tired of these alarms can prove dangerous to cybersecurity.
A few years ago, Nick was traveling through Newark airport in New Jersey. All of a sudden, the airport alarm system started going off. He stopped and looked around as everyone just paused for a moment, stared at one another, then went along their way. In just a few moments, the alarm became an annoyance – not a sign of any real danger.
Several years back, however, he was at the LAX airport during a TSA-involved shooting, so the alarm panicked him. Nick ran up to the closest TSA agent and asked what was going on; it’s not often you hear a global alert system go off. The agent’s response to his question was, “I don’t know,” and they didn’t seem concerned to find out. Different rant for a different day.
The point is, we’ve all experienced false alarms in our lives just like this one. Fire alarms go off by accident in our workplace or college dorm. Ocean safety authorities release false tsunami alarm after false tsunami alarm. When we first hear these alerts, we’re likely filled with panic. But the more these alerts falsely sound, the more our panic diminishes.
Much like the villagers in the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” story, we’ve become immune to what would otherwise be a sign of real danger. This is known as alarm fatigue. Each time we hear false alarms, we’re being (Read more...)
*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from The State of Security authored by Tripwire Guest Authors. Read the original post at: https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/security-data-protection/alert-fatigue-is-a-big-cybersecurity-problem/
