Why Does A Diversity Gap Persist In Cybersecurity This International Women’s Day?

Cybersecurity is at the heart of protecting our digital economy and society. But only 10 percent of the profession is female, which is a striking statistic to consider when we celebrate International Women’s Day on 8th March.  

Closing the Gender Gap: Women in Cybersecurity: March 8 was International Women’s Day. A lot of folks will say, “why do we need a special day for women? Women have equality now – don’t they?” To an extent, this is true. Compared to the… Go on to the… https://t.co/ISPPrz81rA pic.twitter.com/FAQW0yMGPZ

— Global Cyber Threat Intel (@cipherstorm) May 25, 2018

One of the women in cybersecurity is Sivan Nir, the Threat Intelligence Team Leader at Skybox Research Lab, part of Skybox Security. She talked about the diversity gap in the industry. 

Sivan Nir, the Threat Intelligence Team Leader at Skybox Research Lab:  

“Quite clearly, the number of women in cybersecurity is far too low. This is such a waste because it’s a field that’s longing for more skilled people to join up so that the challenging skills gap can be closed. It’s a perfect industry for women to work in: because cybersecurity is so new and dynamic, it’s a field that welcomes and thrives on diversity. My own team comes from all walks of life, which is one of the main reasons why we’re so successful at researching and understanding the context of cyber threats”. 

“Personally, I never felt held back from choosing science and engineering as my career. My father is an engineer and I grabbed the opportunities given to me to follow a technology path at school, choosing options in physics and computer science. 

“To get more women and girls into my profession, you need to start young. Girls need to be encouraged to make more tech-oriented education choices when they’re still at school: working in technological fields should be seen as exciting, not intimidating. Cybersecurity, in particular, is never boring – we tackle real-world challenges at a fast pace every day. 

“Women need to feel that they are encouraged to take chances with their STEM career choices. I’ve benefitted from studying bio-technology engineering at university – it led to me becoming a data analyst and finally to leading a cyber threat research team for a global organisation. There are many rewarding opportunities out there for women in cybersecurity and I’m excited to see more join our ranks in the future.”