Routine is not in the vocabulary of an IT security professional. Each and every day, you are greeted with a new challenge. One day, it might be defending against a zero-day exploit on the loose or removing a known vulnerability. On another day, it's preparing a presentation for the board or documenting security controls. The next day it could be amending firewall rules or responding to an employee who succumbed to a social engineering attack.

You get the idea. There is often no rhyme or reason to the job of the security practitioner. When you aren't putting out a fire, you are mired in an operational responsibility that keeps you glued to your desk well beyond quitting time. Workload-related stress is not uncommon in the security industry.

• How have overall security pressures changed year over year? 
• Do security pros feel they have enough skills and personnel?
• How many security pros have experienced a data breach?
• How much pressure do owners or the board place on security pros?
• Are security pros more concerned with prevention or detection? More flummoxed by external or internal threats
• How big of a concern is the cloud, IoT and BYOD?

Dan Kaplan is manager of online content at Trustwave and former IT security reporter and editor.