Celebrating Women in Cyber Security during the Month of October

As you’ve probably heard, October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, an annual campaign meant to raise awareness about the importance of cyber security. October is also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Understanding the importance of supporting women in the industry (who are largely underrepresented), Cybrary is honoring the community with a change to the logo for this month (pictured above). You will notice that in addition to the traditional mask logo looking more like a cancer ribbon, we have included the hashtag #CyberAware, which we encourage you to use in your discussions of cyber topics.

“Mature cyber security teams require a mix of skills and diversity of thought – you must foster teamwork that’s inclusive and integrates multi-disciplinary and diverse perspectives” said Angela Messer, a Booz Allen executive vice president, and leader of the firm’s Cyber innovation business and cyber talent development champion. “An overreliance on any one background or perspective leaves an organization vulnerable to adversaries and threats that rapidly change – only diverse, multidisciplinary teams can rapidly respond and problem solve on the next challenge. It’s also a security imperative that our industry broaden access to talent by becoming better at attracting, retaining and empowering female cyber warriors.”

It is this type of cyber awareness- knowing that teams are made up of unique backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints, that will allow for a cyber security mindset across organizations and with time, will hopefully assist us in bridging the cyber security skills gap.

“With increasingly sophisticated threats and the demand for security talent soaring, the cybersecurity field is one that absolutely cannot afford to neglect the population of women and the many talents they offer,” said Shamla Naidoo echoes, global chief information security officer, IBM. “The security industry needs the best and brightest to remain ahead in the fight against cybercrime, and creating a workforce with diversity of thought, gender and backgrounds is essential to this goal.”

For those who want an inside look at some of Cybrary’s female instructors working to spread the word about the importance of cyber security, check out this list of female- taught courses:

1. CISSP: Kelly Handerhan
2. CASP: Kelly Handerhan
3. Advanced Penetration Testing: Georgia Weidman
4. Secure Coding: Sunny Wear
5. Advanced Social Engineering Tactics: Magda Chelly

For the entire course list, including many more courses from Kelly Handerhan, visit the catalog.  If you or someone in your network would like to contribute a course, you can submit your material here.

Don’t forget to donate for October’s special Breast Cancer Awareness badge and show your support, here.