With millions of hard-to-fill global cybersecurity job openings and a seemingly relentless increase in malware, cyberattacks, and breaches, the world is dire need of more IT security professionals. As an industry, we should act with a sense of urgency and mindfulness about how we will fill these open roles.
To address the yawning security jobs and people gap, organizations should consider looking beyond their usual recruiting processes and career development programs and get creative to grow their human capital. One obvious solution is getting more women into cybersecurity careers.
In honor of International Women’s Day, BeyondTrust was joined by Limor Kessem, Executive Security Advisor at IBM Security for a webinar session of our Women in Security Series. During the session, Limor highlighted ‘The Rule of Steve’, which was introduced by Dawn-Marie Hutchinson. Limor explained this rule still applies today and goes like this, “in a room (in-person or virtually) full of cybersecurity professionals there are likely to be more people named Steve than women.”
As Limor put it, “We need more women, we need more ethnic diversity, we need more neurodiversity, and we actually need more men. We need more people from a whole range of different groups who might have the right aptitude and attitude to work in information security, regardless of what kind of group they are and what location they are in.”
The big question is - how do we move forward and drive change?
You can tune into the on-demand webinar session where Limor highlights some of the various demographic gaps and opportunities for growth in the cybersecurity space, and provides concrete ways individuals and organizations can drive change and help break down barriers. Over the course of the session, Limor also shares personal anecdotes shedding light on some of the challenges she has confronted in hopes of stirring up our own thinking about ways to breakthrough and effect change.
My hope with our Virtual Networking Series is that we as current and future cybersecurity industry professionals get the opportunity to connect and discuss what is happening in the industry, develop ideas, but, most importantly, how we can take action.
Watch Limor Kessem’s session here or join our next virtual networking event on April 30th.
I also welcome you to check out BeyondTrust’s career page to see if there is a fit with one of our current job openings.
Nancy Compean, Sr. Specialist, Marketing Programs
As the Digital Event Specialist at BeyondTrust, Nancy supports BeyondTrust’s highly effective world-wide webinar program to continue advancing its success. At the beginning of 2021, Nancy has launched digitals events to help bring people together, give them an opportunity to network, and help create a path toward a more inclusive and diversified industry. Nancy’s passion, creativity and understanding comes after helping lead the launch BeyondTrust’s Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) initiatives in 2019.