The answer to the question
on why women are a minority in the cybersecurity field can be quite
challenging. The statistics which was released in 2017 says that only
11 percent of women make up the cybersecurity workforce. In this
generation of growing threats and talent shortage, women can play a
significant role in the Cybersecurity field but as per the information
recorded, it is definitely not helping unless the cybersecurity
professionals take initiative to change this fact. Who is responsible
for this change to take effect?
Cybersecurity is not a business or a governmental matter, we are all
online, so it affects all of us. Therefore in order to populate women
in this field, all organizations have the responsibility in
introducing young women to the fields because to realize what they
want to do in their future, they must try or do something related to
that specific field. The exposure to the cybersecurity field is very
important to enhance ones talent and the interest.
This exposure can be given to young girls or ladies at different
stages or ways. For instance, introducing ladies at their school
levels to this field can be one of those effective solutions because
school level ambitions can have long term effects when they choose
their future career.

Exposing them to the field
is not restricted to a certain level, it is very important to inform
them that it is not only about technical aspects but also talking to
businesses because one misconception backing ladies from this field is
that they tend to think that a �Hacker� is someone who must know
extreme programming with extreme technical skills, must have the
ability to stay all night hacking into systems and being a �Male� is
more suitable. We as people in the industry must have the
responsibility to make them aware that ladies working in this field
have work, private and social lives and at the same time makes them
more agile to face different situations. One thing they need to
develop is working with personal data because to deal with the
personal data they need to build their trust with each other which can
eventually help them to work with security professional as a team.
Personally, I believe starting their cybersecurity career as an intern
or from a beginner level can give them more knowledge on the work done
on the field but it is also important for them to blend with new
people in the field and to have a good portfolio of mentors who will
help them to mend the path.
While delivering this
information to the young ladies, it is our duty to be an example to
all of them, young generations tend to follow role models rather than
just listening to advises, the image below shows an Israeli-born cyber
security analyst and senior researcher on hackers and technology. We
should all know that a woman with the right kind of crime skill set,
trustworthiness and a positive attitude can become a strong
cybersecurity warrior. We need more women to make the industry better
and the industry itself plays a huge part in making women more
productive by adding more colors to their personality.

Figure 1 Keren Elazari at TED2014
To conclude this article I
would like to emphasize the point that women have the potential and
the interest to join the cybersecurity field but we as industry
professionals must increase the awareness as well as clear the
misconceptions of this field so hopefully in the near future the above
said statistics for women in cybersecurity will be increased to solve
the problems of the workforce shortage and bring new and unique
talents among the cybersecurity workforce.
By
Hansani Vihanga
Halwatura
Vihanga
is an undergraduate of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University who is currently following
BSC(Hons in Information Technology). Currently she is working as Intern - Information Security
Engineer at Sri Lanka CERT|CC
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