COMMENT
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance cybersecurity analytics capabilities, with AI-based natural language processing, volumetric computing, and anomaly detection handling many of the incident investigation tasks typically performed by analysts. But while technology can augment a security professional’s role to efficiently sift through data or help detect anomalies, it won’t replace the broad human context needed to investigate incidents. This problem is compounded by the cybersecurity industry’s failure to be more inclusive of women and minorities, which is an existing problem that AI cannot solve.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, lack of cybersecurity talent or human failure will be responsible for more than 50% of significant cybersecurity incidents, signaling an urgent need to fill cybersecurity roles to keep organizations safe . But women represent only a quarter of the global cybersecurity workforceand in some cases the number is decreasing. For example, 2023 data only indicates 17% of the IT workforce in the UK it is female, down from 22% in 2022, and only 14% of senior roles in the sector are held by women.
Level the playing field
The industry cannot afford this type of regression as cyber threats continue to advance. We must emphasize and cultivate fundamental skills that will enable women, girls, and minorities to succeed in artificial intelligence, machine learning (ML), and computing careers in general. We’ve been using AI/ML in cybersecurity for years, but with the development of these new AI-powered tools, the industry has the opportunity to level the playing field by encouraging equal participation in learning these tools.
As statistics show, cybersecurity also has a retention problem. The Gartner report also predicts that by 2025, nearly half of cybersecurity leaders will change jobs due to work-related stressors. This may be an even bigger problem for women, as, anecdotally, I have seen many women take time off or even abandon the field for reasons including caring for family, the poor workplace culture adaptation or lack of organizational support leading to burnout. Some women simply don’t want to pioneer a company or be the “only one” within their organization or department, so they choose to leave.
We need to do more to support talent and provide resources and opportunities for women to thrive in the industry. Organizations like Women in Cyber Security (WiCyS), Women’s Cyberjutsu Society, Black women in techAND Women in artificial intelligence place a strong emphasis on building the awareness, community, skills and capabilities of women in the tech sector, and it can’t end there.
For example, organizations can help staff build their networks by attending cybersecurity or technology conferences. They can also establish tutoring programs and encourage and invest in women who seek leadership roles within their teams, rather than hiring from outside.
These behaviors can create a positive recurring cycle, as strong networks create even stronger cultural foundations of diversity. When you have a diverse leadership team, you have diversity of thought, which improves team performance and overall employee satisfaction.