How to Close the Gender Gap in Security

Cybersecurity breaches have become increasingly common and their impact can be devastating. It is more important than ever to grow diverse cybersecurity talent. And when it comes to solving the tough challenges, we need to understand the many dimensions of the problem. Diversity of thought helps us understand how to tackle the issue from all sides and develop the most innovative solutions.

As the need for cybersecurity professionals continue to grow, the number of women professionals in the field remains stagnant at only 11 percent, according to the 2017 Women in Cybersecurity Report by the (ISC), Center for Cyber Safety and Education and Executive Women's Forum.

Three ways we can attract and retain more employees in the cybersecurity field: 

1. Spark interest in cybersecurity with young employees. Our own research on Cracking the Gender Code reveals the long-term importance of showing employees that computing can be cool and fun, and that it's not just for other people. The same opportunity applies to cybersecurity. We need our educators, parents and mentors to ensure young employees view cybersecurity as a rewarding field where they can make valuable contributions.

2. Make cybersecurity curriculum gender-neutral. During one of our broadcasts, the upper management shared their work at creating a more gender-neutral curriculum and its direct impact on making more students feel welcome in areas. This is a great example at how simply changing the narrative in curriculum and communication as educators can have a direct impact in growing interest in cybersecurity. And we need to do this for all levels in education - elementary school on up so we don't start high school and college with that gender gap already in place.

3. Attract talent from other mature disciplines. It's not enough to develop future talent, we need to look at lateral areas for contingent skills that may not be in cybersecurity. There is tremendous talent in fraud, IT and risk that can apply to cybersecurity roles.