Scarlett Howery’s Post

**Is Tech’s Gender Gap Narrowing Fast Enough?** The narrative around gender disparity within the STEM fields is familiar to us all. Yet, as we dive into the specifics of cybersecurity, an area where vigilance and diverse perspectives are crucial, one has to wonder—how far have we come? Despite progress in raising awareness and calls for inclusivity, the figures still paint a stark picture. Women represent a fraction of the cybersecurity workforce today. According to analysis from a report written by "Security Boulevard", women will hold 30 per cent of cybersecurity jobs globally by 2025, which is a move in the right direction but still a far cry from where we need to be. https://lnkd.in/dAyTYrD5 Diverse teams bring varied perspectives crucial for identifying vulnerabilities and innovating solutions that might be overlooked. As leaders in tech and cybersecurity, it’s incumbent upon us to take actionable steps toward actively closing the existing gap, but in a fair, pragmatic and progressive manner. #WomenInCyberSecurity #CISO #Rubrik

The #cybersecurity industry is facing a shortage of skilled workers. With numerous studies highlighting the fact that diverse teams produce better and more innovative results over time, this presents a significant opportunity to prioritize creating safe and diverse workplaces, especially in a sector that has traditionally been underrepresented by women. Check out this insightful article from ☁️Shira Shamban, published by SC Media, for actionable solutions on how to make this industry more inclusive.

Join our fireside chat, titled 'Cybersecurity: A Career Path for Women,' in commemoration of this year's International Women's Day theme, 'Inspiring Inclusion' Get ready to be inspired by impactful stories of women thriving in Cybersecurity as we discuss their journey, challenges faced, opportunities for newcomers, and valuable insights to help you start or advance your cybersecurity career. 📅Date: Saturday, 16 March 2024 ⏰Time: 1 pm EST 📍Registration Link: www.bit.ly/WCIWD This chat will explore the diverse career opportunities available in cybersecurity. As the threat landscape evolves daily, there is a high demand for skilled professionals, yet women remain underrepresented. We aim to change that by inspiring more to pursue this vital work. Be inspired by their stories, gain practical advice, and discover how you can make a significant impact in the cybersecurity space. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to connect, learn, and celebrate the achievements of women in cybersecurity. Feel free to share with your network or someone who will be interested. PS: Did you know that there are only about 25% of female Cybersecurity professionals globally? #IWD2024 #CybersecurityCareer #Cybersecurityexperts #Cybersecurityips #ProfessionalDevelopment #firesidechat #TechCareer #CybersecurityGRC #iwd2024womenleadingtheway #CybersecurityPros #Careerconsulting #Careercoach #CISM #Careergoals #Techspace #womenintech #Careerdevelopment #Torontocanada #inclusionanddiversity

11% of cybersecurity teams have zero women? And 21% of teams have fewer than 10% female representation on the team? That is a shocking and terrible statistic. I used to buy into the narrative that not enough women graduate STEM programs so it is difficult to find candidates (it must be someone else's fault!) I have since learned the value of hiring from non-traditional sources. The job isn't to install and maintain technology, it is to ensure business is productive and effective. Who is best suited to understand the business priorities, someone who is trained in technical architecture or someone trained in the business function? Cybersecurity is a risk management function and requires a combination of risk and business intelligence. One needs to know what to protect, how to protect it and what the implications of protecting will be. There certainly aren't enough candidates that encompass that breadth. You need to hire a mix of people to have an effective team. I understand that not everyone wants to be a cybersecurity expert, but that will be extra true if your cybersecurity team is a bunch of techies just focused on technology. "Solving business challenges," "accelerating business change" and "protecting against the hackers in the news" sounds a lot better doesn't it? Building that team requires diversity and opens the hiring pool to a wider range. And if you still aren't sold on the idea: have you ever had a difficult client? One of the other departments that just wouldn't cooperate and was always ignoring the rules? Let Betty work with the ops folks and have Bob work with the HR team for a while. It is amazing how much progress you can make just by changing the person the department interacts with. If your team is a homogeneous group of technologists, your options are limited -- as will your success. https://lnkd.in/d4ii5XYC #cybersecurity #diversity #people #itsabouttrust

Are you a woman looking to enter the #Cybersecurity industry? Optiv women in leadership provide their advice to those looking to join in this article on CyberWire Daily, by N2K. #OptivNews

"Women in cybersecurity feel excluded, disrespected" Its still the case across the industry and Tech Republic have highlight some fantastic points in this article. Our next LinkedIn GCScyber live event we will be highlighting these issues and as always trying to reduce the gap within cyber security and allow women to thrive in their workplace. Toxic workplace environments not just in cyber make many feel excluded and its time this changed for the better! Its really alarming to see that Cybersecurity firms have a significantly higher level of exclusion than non-cybersecurity firms. The WiCyS study said this finding aligns with similar studies showing that technology companies tend to have higher overall exclusion scores than companies in other sectors, especially for women. #WomenInCyber #GCScyber #Exclusion #timeforchange

I get asked frequently how we can change the face of cybersecurity to make it more diverse and more inclusive - specifically, because of who I am and my role - how can we get more women interested in cybersecurity and on cybersecurity career paths. I would argue that our greatest challenge in improving that aspect of diversity in our industry isn't getting women interested in cybersecurity, it's creating environments where they can be successful in cybersecurity. This report provides a clear, stark picture of what that environment looks like to us, today. It won't matter how many women and girls we recruit to join the cyber workforce, if we aren't creating environments and an industry where they want to stay in the cyber workforce. #cybersecurity #womenincybersecurity

#AzureDaily 🌐💻 On International Women's Day, Microsoft highlights the importance of women in cybersecurity and AI! They're encouraging diversity and inclusion, offering resources, and expanding opportunities to close the skills gap. Let's empower women in tech! #IWD2024 #Cybersecurity #AI 💪🚺

Excited to highlight Exclusive Networks' latest feature for #InternationalWomensDay 2024, focusing on empowering the next generation of female leaders in #cybersecurity. In an insightful article by Minya Vasili, Marketing Director for APAC, Exclusive Networks confronts the critical shortage of #diversity in the cyber sector and lay out strategic initiatives aimed at closing this gap. This is a call to action to support and accelerate the integration of women into cybersecurity roles, ensuring a balanced and innovative future for the industry. This International Women's Day, let's commit to creating a more inclusive, diverse, and empowered cybersecurity workforce. Read more on IT Brief Asia: https://lnkd.in/giKfRhAt #WomenInTech #EmpowerWomen #CybersecurityLeaders #PublicRelations