Cyber Security Careers for Women

The IT industry is male-dominated and there is a gender imbalance in the cyber security field with over two-thirds of the industry being male. However, the gender gap has not gone unnoticed and organisations are beginning to take action. Priorities include attracting more women into the cyber security profession and empowering them to be successful in their careers.

Today, there are numerous initiatives coming forward that aim to get women more involved. Issues related to cyber security threaten to destabilise the internet and related technologies, causing ripple effects throughout other industries. 

To combat this, there is an ever-increasing need for educated, talented, and enthusiastic cybersecurity professionals.

In the past cyber was about locking systems down, prohibiting certain actions, calling out transgressions, but these days it is much more about explaining the risk. Since cyber security is no longer purely an IT concern, organisations are beginning to look at training people internally, rather than turning to recruitment agencies.There are many people who would benefit from making a sideways move. A career in cyber can be extremely rewarding in both personal and financial terms, says Johnson, but it's not for everyone. It's a fast-changing world in which roles evolve quickly and constant learning is part of the job. Being responsible for the organisation's security is also, understandably, rather stressful. 

However, in contrast to their rather forbidding image, cyber team members are usually highly supportive and with so many specialist areas, no-one can know everything. Significantly, while 44% of men in cyber security hold a post-graduate degree, the number of women who are post-graduates is 52%. 

There is more and more information related to women in cyber security and it’s relatively simple these days to stay up to date with what’s happening in the field. By following relevant hashtags on Twitter and LinkedIn, women either considering or already pursuing a career change can to keep up to date with news about initiatives, events, networking opportunities, job openings, via groups like WiCyS (Women in CyberSecurity).

While the recent trend seems to offer some optimism that young women are increasingly overlooking the stereotypes in careers, the shortfall will take a long time to overcome at this rate. The persistent truth that women continue to be underpaid and under-recognised for their achievements will make it more difficult problem to alleviate until parity is achieved. 

CybersecurityChallenge:   Computing:    Comparitech:    ISC2:    ZDNet:   Cybersecurity Guide:   Image: Unsplash

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