Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) [1] [2] is a 501(c)(3) non-profit aimed at supporting the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in cybersecurity. [3] It is a global community of men and women dedicated to bringing talented women and under-represented groups together to fill the cybersecurity jobs gap [4] and make the field of cybersecurity more inclusive. [5] [6] [7]
Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) was founded in 2013 by Ambareen Siraj [8] from Tennessee Tech University through funding from the National Science Foundation. [9] In less than ten years, the organization has grown into a leading alliance between academia, government, and industry. WiCyS is working to improve the pipeline in the cybersecurity workforce and it does so through numerous initiatives supported by Strategic Partners and more than 500 volunteers.
Women in CyberSecurity's executive director is Lynn Dohm. [10] [11] [12]
Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is recognized for the annual cybersecurity conference supporting women in computer sciences. [13] The first conference took place in Nashville, Tennessee. in 2014. The conference was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and provided funding for 100 attendees but had approximately 350 attendees due to an extension that was sponsored by 28 organizations.
This flagship conference [14] is the largest cybersecurity conference with equal representation from industry professionals, academia, and students. [15] It is consistently listed in the top cybersecurity conferences to attend each year. [16] [17] [18] The conference is focused on recruiting, retaining, and promoting women in cybersecurity, providing an opportunity to network and learn [19] from each other [20] and presents research on cybersecurity and technical topics. [21] [22]
In 2024 the conference grew to over 1,900 attendees and was sponsored by Bloomberg, Fortinet, Raytheon Technologies, Optum, Amazon Web Services, Google, Cisco, Deloitte, SentinelOne, GE, Carnegie Mellon University, National Security Agency and many more. The organization continues to gain support from notable names in technology as additional companies choose to commit to solving the cybersecurity workforce challenges. [23] [24]
Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) has a variety of initiatives and resources to help women aspiring to a career in cybersecurity or those already in the field. Initiatives include professional affiliates, student internship programs, veterans assistance, mentor/mentee programs and apprentice programs.[ citation needed ]
Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) has over 300 student chapters in sixteen countries. Student chapters work in their school's community to promote the recruitment, retention and advancement of women students in cybersecurity. At least one Chapter representative is awarded a student scholarship to attend the WiCyS Annual Conference each year. A partnership with Microsoft will expand the number of countries participating in student chapters to 23. [25]
In partnership with (ISC)2, Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) offers a Certified in Cybersecurity certification for underrepresented populations. In partnership with the SANS Institute, Women in CyberSecurity offers a Security Training Scholarship for Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) members seeking cybersecurity employment. The scholarship is funded by Google, [26] Bloomberg, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies. [27] WiCyS also offers a Cyber Defense Challenge program with the Target cybersecurity team. [28]
AFCEA International, established in 1946, is a nonprofit membership association serving the military, government, industry, and academia as a forum for advancing professional knowledge and relationships in the fields of communications, information technology, intelligence and global security. AFCEA provides a forum for military, government, academic and industry communities with altogether more than 30,000 members. AFCEA supports local chapters, sponsors events, publishes a magazine, promotes STEM education and provides member benefits.
EC-Council is a cybersecurity certification, education, training, and services company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The National Cybersecurity Center (NCC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in early 2016 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The creation of the NCC was initially envisioned by Governor John Hickenlooper, in coordination with individuals from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and local community members. The NCC provides services to public and private organizations and individuals through training, education, and research.
A computer security conference is a convention for individuals involved in computer security. They generally serve as meeting places for system and network administrators, hackers, and computer security experts. Common activities at hacker conventions may include:
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) is a series of conferences designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. It is the world's largest gathering of women and non-binary technologists. The celebration, named after computer scientist Grace Hopper, is organized by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. GHC 2022 conference was held hybrid in Orlando and virtually at the end of September 2022.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is an American multinational cybersecurity company with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The core product is a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to cover other aspects of security. The company serves over 70,000 organizations in over 150 countries, including 85 of the Fortune 100. It is home to the Unit 42 threat research team and hosts the Ignite cybersecurity conference. It is a partner organization of the World Economic Forum.
Tarah Marie Wheeler is an American technology and cybersecurity author, public speaker, computer security professional, and executive. She is currently CEO of Red Queen Dynamics and Senior Fellow of Global Cyber Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and she is the author of Women in Tech.
The Virginia Cyber Range is an educational and research institute funded by a $4-million grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia to promote education in cybersecurity across the state. Currently, the Cyber Range is based out of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center.
Rafay Baloch is a Pakistani ethical hacker and security researcher. He has been featured and known by both national and international media and publications like Forbes, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Express Tribune and TechCrunch. He has been listed among the "Top 5 Ethical Hackers of 2014" by CheckMarx. Subsequently he was listed as one of "The 15 Most Successful Ethical Hackers WorldWide" and among "Top 25 Threat Seekers" by SCmagazine. Baloch has also been added in TechJuice 25 under 25 list for the year 2016 and got 13th rank in the list of high achievers. Reflectiz, a cyber security company, released the list of "Top-21 Cybersecurity Experts You Must Follow on Twitter in 2021" recognizing Rafay Baloch as the top influencer. On 23 March 2022, ISPR recognized Rafay Baloch's contribution in the field of Cyber Security with Pride for Pakistan award. In 2021, Islamabad High court designated Baloch as an amicus curia for a case concerning social media regulations.
Anomali Inc. is an American cybersecurity company that develops and provides threat intelligence products. In 2023, the company moved into providing security analytics powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
Internet security awareness or Cyber security awareness refers to how much end-users know about the cyber security threats their networks face, the risks they introduce and mitigating security best practices to guide their behavior. End users are considered the weakest link and the primary vulnerability within a network. Since end-users are a major vulnerability, technical means to improve security are not enough. Organizations could also seek to reduce the risk of the human element. This could be accomplished by providing security best practice guidance for end users' awareness of cyber security. Employees could be taught about common threats and how to avoid or mitigate them.
Andrea M. Matwyshyn is an American law professor and engineering professor at The Pennsylvania State University. She is known as a scholar of technology policy, particularly as an expert at the intersection of law and computer security and for her work with government. She is credited with originating the legal and policy concept of the Internet of Bodies.
Rinki Sethi is an American technology executive who has held Chief Information Security Officer and Vice President of Information Security roles at several large companies.
Camille Stewart is an American technology and cybersecurity attorney, public speaker, and entrepreneur. She served as the Senior Policy advisor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration from 2015 to 2017 under the Barack Obama administration. She also served as the Head of Product Security Strategy Google after serving as the Lead for Security Policy & Election Integrity, Google Play & Android at Google.
Capture the Flag (CTF) in computer security is an exercise in which participants attempt to find text strings, called "flags", which are secretly hidden in purposefully-vulnerable programs or websites. They can be used for both competitive or educational purposes. In two main variations of CTFs, participants either steal flags from other participants or from organizers. A mixed competition combines these two styles. Competitions can include hiding flags in hardware devices, they can be both online or in-person, and can be advanced or entry-level. The game is inspired by the traditional outdoor sport of the same name. CTFs are used as a tool for developing and refining cybersecurity skills, making them popular in both professional and academic settings.
Wiz, Inc. is an American cloud security startup headquartered in New York City. The company was founded in January 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak, all of whom previously founded Adallom. Rappaport is CEO, Costica is VP of Product, Reznik is VP of Engineering, and Luttwak is CTO. The company's platform analyzes computing infrastructure hosted in Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Kubernetes for combinations of risk factors that could allow malicious actors to gain control of cloud resources and/or exfiltrate valuable data.
Cyber Ireland is a business cluster organisation that connects businesses, educational institutions and the state to support the growing cyber security industry in Ireland, which consisted of over 60 domestic and 40 multinational cyber-security companies in 2018. Launched in 2019 by the IDA and Enterprise Ireland's Regional Technology Cluster Fund, Cyber Ireland had over 180 members as of the start of 2022 including Johnson Controls International, Dell EMC, IBM, McAfee, McKesson and Trend Micro. Cyber Ireland was the first business cluster to be formed in the country.
Michele Guel is an American cybersecurity engineer.
The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a global forum of incident response and security teams. They aim to improve cooperation between security teams on handling major cybersecurity incidents. FIRST is an association of incident response teams with global coverage.
ThriveDX is a global cybersecurity education provider. The company partners with educational institutions and organizations to deliver online training bootcamps teaching cybersecurity, software development, information technology, AI coding, and various digital skills.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)