Birds of a feather code together

If you’ve ever been to a security conference, you may be used to the familiar sight of rooms full of men and just a smattering of women. Last month, I had the new-to-me experience of being at asecurity conference that was attended solely by women. This experience of being surrounded by hundreds of women working in my field highlighted for me the fact that, while the percentage of women in information security jobs is decreasing, there are still an awful lot of us out there. And, in fact, that was the subject of my Birds of a Feather discussion at the recent National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) conference.

Part of my purpose in proposing the talk to the NICE conference was to show women and other minorities in tech that they are not alone, by sharing the stories of others who have been working in the information security industry for years. I asked each of my interviewees what things they found most welcoming about working in this industry, and what things they found uncomfortable.

Birds of a feather code together