According to the World Economic Forum, women made up only 25 percent of the cybersecurity industry in 2022, yet the sector is impacted by staff shortages, according to Debi Dowling, Chief of Staff & VP of Strategic Programs at Onapsis.
The discrepancy, and the solution, is clear. Dowling highlights this contradiction to Digital Journal and argues why investing in bringing more women into cybersecurity and closing this gender gap is crucial for the sector and business security alike.
According to Dowling: “Cybersecurity threats are growing at an alarming rate across the globe while at the same time, cybercriminals are becoming even more sophisticated in their methods of attacks. Meanwhile, the shortage of cybersecurity talent is making it difficult for organisations and industries to meet these constantly shifting security demands.”
Dowling notes that the cybersecurity landscape has become increasingly challenging. In fact, cybercrime is expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion annually by 2025 but organisations are struggling to build the specialised skills required to manage these growing threats.
According to ISACA’s latest State of Cybersecurity Report, 63 percent of enterprises have unfilled cybersecurity positions while labour shortages in the UK have become particularly acute. In fact, while there are currently about 339 000 cyber professionals in the UK (up 13 percent year-on-year), there is still a shortfall of 56 811 workers (up 70 percent year-on-year).
Dowling observes that despite this growing need for cybersecurity talent “we also continue to see significant underrepresentation and exclusion of women within the cybersecurity sector. A recent report on women in cybersecurity found that as of September 2022, women made up only 25 percent of the workforce in the global cybersecurity industry – with the UK doing marginally better with women making up 36 percent of the cybersecurity workforce.”
In terms of contradictions, Dowling finds: “Women are expected to represent only 30 percent of the global cybersecurity workforce by 2025 and 35 percent by 2031. This means that over a period just shy of a decade, the number of women in the industry will have grown by only 10 percent.”
The consequence, according to Dowling is: “This lack of inclusion of women in the cybersecurity workforce is not only detrimental to the sector and to businesses’ security because it facilitates the continued shortage of much-needed cybersecurity skills, but also because it enables blind spots in cybersecurity through a narrowed lens of perspectives in the field.”
This leads Dowling to summarize: “That’s why, if businesses are to tighten up their cybersecurity, they need to start meaningfully and seriously closing the gender gap.”
Gender equality as a driver of progress
Dowling sets out the case for improving gender equality in the field as: “Ensuring the increased inclusion of women into the field of cybersecurity would do more than just fill empty chairs in the industry, it will also play a key role in broadening and strengthening an organisation’s security capabilities by bringing diverse perspectives to problem-solving and innovation.”
She adds: “In fact, it’s been well-proven that including women helps to ensure better outcomes of technological solutions by enabling organisations to approach the functionalities of technologies from a different perspective, thereby reducing any blind spots that would not get caught otherwise. For example, women internet users face a higher number of cybercrime incidents while being at an increased risk of financial data loss, violations of privacy, and security breaches.”
Another key reason is because: “A more diverse workforce ultimately improves business performance as companies with a gender-diverse employee base tend to have better financial returns than national industry averages.”
Dowling concludes: “By empowering more women to enter the cybersecurity industry, which is a well-paying, highly productive, and future-proof industry for employment, we would be able to strengthen and diversify national economies.”
