It's not a secret that IT professionals--particularly first-tier tech support--have a low opinion of users, though a new survey paints a rather bleak picture.

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IT professionals, particularly those who work in security, often find themselves embattled due to poor management and less-than-tech-savvy end users. Network security firm Lastline conducted a survey at the 2019 RSA conference to measure the attitudes of IT workers toward their jobs, and found that 31.5% of security professionals "believe that at least half of their employees think the cloud is literally in the sky," with approximately another third saying they believe that "some, but less than 50 percent" think the cloud is in the sky.

Confidence among security professionals in their own cloud deployments is not overwhelmingly positive, with just half rating their cloud security as a 4 or 5, in a ranking of 5 as "totally secure" and 1 as "not at all secure." In the report, Lastline contends that it is "unsettling to hear that the team responsible for securing that data does not have higher confidence," though an overabundance of confidence in security is likely foolish.

SEE: 10 ways to prevent developer burnout (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Money, however, could help IT workers actually secure their organization, as only 2% said they believe they have adequate funding. "Nearly a quarter of security professionals (23%) thought that it would take a successful attack against their company in order to get executives to spend enough on security, by which time, of course, it would be too late," the report stated, adding "nearly 3 in 10 thought it essentially impossible to get adequate funding: 16% thought it would take a declared cyberwar and 12% said it simply will never happen."

So, what keeps IT professionals from throwing up their hands and declaring that "This is the sort of thing up with which I cannot put?" Surprisingly, the first answer is not money. According to the survey, a third of respondents work in cybersecurity to "make the world safe from cybercriminals," while 28% cited the mental stimulation that accompanies the position. Money was the third-most cited, with 19% indicating it is the most important reason they work in security.

For more, check out "Cybersecurity burnout: 10 most stressful parts of the job" and "Americans overestimate their online safety, despite putting forward little effort."

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