It’s Time for Women in Cyber

When it comes to the workforce, the cybersecurity industry is facing two monumental challenges. Well, certainly more than that and most of them are technology related, but these two are important because just a few years ago they weren’t even on the radar.

First, there are more than 1.5 million unfilled security jobs globally. Think about that. 1.5 million vacant, high paid, technically exciting jobs just waiting for the right person to fill it. Second, and perhaps more importantly, women only fill about 11% of all existing cybersecurity jobs. This means that globally, we are arguably only engaging with half of the potential candidates to fill those 1.5 million jobs. Guess what? If we want to be serious about stopping the bad guys and really addressing the world’s cybersecurity challenges, we’ve got to be more determined about captivating the interest of all, not just part, of the workforce.

But, there’s some hope. This recent article titled, The Search for Women Who Want Cybersecurity Careers, Deborah Gage cites a number of cool new programs aimed at getting more women on the cyber train. TechGirlz and Boston University are among the organizations sponsoring camps and contests to teach girls cyber skills. Palo Alto Networks has even developed a cyber curriculum for the Girl Scouts which will lead to a Girl Scout badge. Heck, yeah.