By Subhalakshmi Ganapathy
Cyberattacks targeting enterprises have been on the rise, especially since the lockdown ended. With the changes to work patterns and the adoption of new technologies and the cloud, businesses are struggling to secure their environments. With understaffed security operations centers, most businesses are under immense strain to meet their cybersecurity needs.
Hiring and nurturing a competent security operations team has been crucial for organizations lately, especially with the increased attrition in the cybersecurity space. At this point, not building inclusive, diverse security operations teams will not only widen the skill gap but also cause businesses to lag behind, increasing their chances of falling victim to cyberattacks.
Cybersecurity is not just about the technology deployed to secure enterprises from attacks. Of course, working in this market involves studying the different techniques and tactics that adversaries employ to intrude into corporate networks as well as the different defense mechanisms that security analysts have to adopt to evade threats and optimize security operations. However, there is more to it than that.
Cybersecurity is built by people. Ensuring an enterprise’s cybersecurity is largely about leading employees with empathy; defining what matters the most, how to safeguard it, and strategies to protect it; and empowering employees to be security advocates. It’s about safeguarding employees and customers from losing their confidential data. It’s about tracking adversaries before they compromise critical data.
Cybersecurity is no longer a business strategy—it’s part of a company’s culture. It needs all the elements that make a great culture: vision, values, effective communication, diversity, strong leadership, learning and development, curation, and continuity.
Diversity: The crucial component of a cybersecurity culture
Diversity in the workforce and leadership, which is valuable in any field, gets magnified in cybersecurity due to this field’s layered, adversarial, dynamic nature. Cyberattacks get launched by adversaries who are across the globe and have diverse backgrounds. Tackling these attacks, which is the primary role of cybersecurity, is not just about implementing the right technologies. It requires a proactive, flexible security approach. Security professionals should have different perspectives that help them think and act like attackers to spot red flags, stop the intruders, and build a proactive security strategy. However, the industry lacks different perspectives due to its gender imbalance.
Breaking the myth
While it’s true that many organizations throughout the world have inclusion and diversity initiatives these days, often these efforts are not taken as a positive step towards bringing strong opinions and voices to the table. Rather, organizations often see these initiatives as merely a means to improve their brand’s reputation.
Despite several studies showing that women are just as capable as men in STEM studies, often women are perceived as being relatively less competent when it comes to handling cybersecurity. This results in a shortage of women in the workforce and even fewer women in leadership roles. We must understand that unequal pay and the lack of opportunities to grow are holding women back from pursuing careers in cybersecurity.
Inclusive opportunities can narrow the skill gap
The shortage of cybersecurity skills and talent has always been a major challenge for enterprises. Due to the pandemic and the sudden surges of remote work, the cloud, and AI adoption, the skill gap has become the biggest issue in this industry. Amid the global recession and uncertain economic conditions, this industry continues to face an immense shortage of talent.
The available talent will not outnumber the demand for security professionals any time soon. If enterprises continue to refrain from hiring, training, and nurturing women in cybersecurity, the skill gap is likely to become a huge crisis, and enterprises will spend more time battling this issue than they’ll spend battling cyberattacks. They will lose out on diverse perspectives and a more creative, flexible approach to security. The lack of women in cybersecurity will no longer be just an issue of representation but also a serious security concern.
Empowering women is an absolute necessity
To address the skill gap and the lack of different perspectives, it’s an absolute necessity to hire and nurture female employees in this field. Workforce and leadership diversity that delivers broadened perspectives is needed to tackle the threats that are growing in number and complexity.
This can start with providing equal opportunities for women in education and employment, supporting and mentoring female professionals, and breaking down the barriers that prevent women from entering or advancing in the field. It is proven that including female perspectives results in better risk management, improved business performance, and more creativity and innovation in problem-solving. Encouraging greater diversity is essential for success in this rapidly evolving and increasingly critical area of business.
The author is product evangelist – IT security, ManageEngine