{"id":15524,"date":"2026-09-01T12:33:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cardinus.com\/us\/?p=15524"},"modified":"2026-09-01T12:33:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:33:35","slug":"4-ways-poor-office-ergonomics-increase-cybersecurity-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cardinus.com\/us\/4-ways-poor-office-ergonomics-increase-cybersecurity-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"4 ways poor office ergonomics can increase cybersecurity risk"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text margin_bottom=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1788280393141{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Office ergonomics and cybersecurity don’t immediately seem like natural bedfellows. But there is an important human factor connecting the two: digital fatigue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poor workstation setup, prolonged screen time, insufficient breaks and other ergonomic issues can contribute to physical and cognitive fatigue across your workforce. And when employees are tired, they\u2019re less engaged, less vigilant, and exhibit diminished decision-making capacities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, we explore four specific ways in which this increases the chance of human error in cybersecurity, which contributes to roughly 62% of data breaches<\/span>1<\/sup><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Digital fatigue makes cybersecurity training easier to tune out<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cybersecurity training is only effective if employees are able and willing to absorb it.<\/span><\/p>\n

That becomes more difficult when employees are already dealing with a constant stream of emails, instant messages, meetings, notifications and other digital demands. Add prolonged screen time and an uncomfortable or poorly configured workstation, and the cognitive burden can become even greater.<\/span><\/p>\n

Research from <\/span>CybSafe<\/span><\/a> found that just 23% of employees said they were actively engaged with their cybersecurity training, while 41% said there was simply too much information to remember and apply in their day-to-day work<\/span>2<\/sup><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that employees don’t care about security. The problem this data highlights is that attention is a finite resource.<\/span><\/p>\n

When employees are experiencing digital fatigue, another training module can feel like just another item on an already overflowing to-do list. Important guidance becomes easier to skim, forget or postpone.<\/span><\/p>\n

That matters because cybersecurity awareness depends on employees remembering what to look for and what to do when something doesn’t look right.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Cognitive fatigue makes security alerts easier to ignore<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cybersecurity alert fatigue is a known issue across office workforces, and the digital strain of knowledge work can cumulate into cognitive fatigue that reinforces this state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Modern office workers are surrounded by alerts, from email notifications to Teams or Slack messages, calendar reminders, MFA prompts, browser warnings, software updates and security notifications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of them aren’t dangerous. But they all compete for the same limited pool of attention, and surveys suggest that around 54% of office workers turn a blind eye to cybersecurity alerts<\/span>2<\/sup><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Again, this doesn’t necessarily mean employees are deliberately ignoring security.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you’re working through a packed inbox at the end of a long day, a security warning can start to look like another interruption that needs to be cleared rather than a signal that deserves investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the danger of ergonomics-based cybersecurity fatigue. If employees encounter too many warnings, requests and security processes, they can become desensitized to them. The result is a gradual decline in cyber vigilance.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Digital fatigue increases the chances an employee falls for a veiled cyber attack<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A suspicious email that might have received careful scrutiny in the morning may receive a much quicker response after hours of mentally demanding digital work. And that is exactly the kind of moment an attacker can exploit.<\/span><\/p>\n

A 2023 survey found that 47% of office workers claimed information overload was affecting their ability to identify potential threats, including phishing emails<\/span>2<\/sup><\/span>, and a more recent report backs this up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the cyber breaches involving human error, roughly 45% are attributable to misdelivery of information, with many employees claiming to be distracted when clicking on phishing links<\/span>3<\/sup><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information about the human errors in cybersecurity, we recommend reading our guide: <\/span>People as cybersecurity risk<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

4. Fatigue makes cybersecurity shortcuts more tempting<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Not every cybersecurity mistake involves clicking an obviously malicious link. Sometimes the problem is a shortcut.<\/span><\/p>\n

An employee who is tired, overloaded or frustrated may be more inclined to take the quickest route through a security process:<\/span><\/p>\n