#ISC2Congress: The Truth Behind the Lack of Women in Cybersecurity

Working environments designed to empower only men are putting women off pursuing cybersecurity careers.

Cybersecurity professionals speaking at the (ISC)² Security Congress held in Florida this week revealed that talented women are taking their skills elsewhere because cybersecurity made them feel unwelcome.

Deidre Diamond, founder and CEO of recruitment company CyberSN, said: "We’ve heard for years now that women feel they have to work twice as hard and prove themselves to be technical on a regular basis. 

"I’m seeing women leaving the more technical roles and going into the risk and law and privacy roles, where there’s more women already and they don’t have to continually prove themselves."

Diamond, who founded BrainBabe to promote diversity in cybersecurity, said women are being passed over for promotion, talked over in meetings, and asked about childcare arrangements in interviews. Another big problem is men taking credit for work that was actually completed by women.

"Who doesn’t want to work somewhere where it’s comfortable and they feel respected? If that’s not happening, then that’s just tragic, particularly in this day and age, in these jobs, in the United States of America. We don’t have inclusive cultures at the mass level," said Diamond.

Crystal Williams, information security certification and accreditation manager at Women's Society of Cyberjutsu, said: "A lot of the women I have worked with have left the cybersecurity field because of the male domination, but t ..

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