What a software engineering student from Mexico taught me in my career.
By the Jenn Reed, CISO at Aviatrix
When it comes to filling software engineering and security roles in the ever-evolving enterprise, it’s time to look beyond traditional recruiting pools and explore underrepresented talent. Aviatrix's Chief Information Security Officer and the CyberWire contributor for The Hash Table Jenn Reed shares her experience with an organization that brings together Mexican software engineering and information security students and organizations looking to hire staff with those skills.
We are all too acutely aware that we are experiencing a drastic shortage of individuals to fill software engineering and security roles. Technology innovations and threats continue to evolve at an unprecedented rate. Exacerbating this challenge is the mass movement by enterprises to the cloud, which requires new, next generation software engineering and IT skill sets. Read the full article.
Disinformation, cyber resilience, and representation: What we learned in Afternoon Cyber Tea Season 5.
By Ann Johnson, Corporate Vice President, Security, Compliance, & Identity at Microsoft
You do not have to scroll far to read headlines on the latest ransomware attack, disinformation campaign, or data breach. As technology has become more ever-present in our lives, data and systems have become more valuable targets for nefarious actors. Cybercrime is now, unfortunately, a big business.
For leaders in the public and private sectors alike, addressing cybercrime is paramount. Mere minutes of cyber-attack downtime can result in significant loss of revenue, disruption to critical infrastructure, and irreparable reputational damage. Building cyber resilience is an imperative for organizations of all sizes to reduce this potential impact of attacks.
On Afternoon Cyber Tea, I invite cyber leaders, influencers, and researchers to discuss the cyber resilience imperative and unpack some of the big industry challenges and opportunities. We just wrapped an amazing season five, so I wanted to reflect on a few trends I heard consistently from guests. Read the full article. Catch up on Season 5 of Afternoon Cyber Tea and look for Season 6 to launch on August 9th!
Behind every functioning society is a woman in cyber.
By Shelley Zalis, CEO of The FQ, and Emily Mossburg, Global Cyber Leader at Deloitte
Cyberattacks are the number one risk to business in most of the world, but only a small fraction of cybersecurity specialists are women. The Female Quotient (The FQ) and Deloitte teamed up to shine a light on women leading the way in cyber because we cannot solve the greatest threat to the business world with only half the population. These women are at the forefront of the cyber revolution. Working together, The FQ and Deloitte highlight some of the fiercest leaders in cyber – sharing their stories, career advice, and insights into the future of the industry. Check out their Women in Cybersecurity series.
Heard around the studio.
By the CyberWire team
We like to feature some of our newest and shiniest things at the CyberWire here in case you don't have a chance to follow every step we take. With 20 podcasts and several audio briefings, as well as 10 publications, it's hard enough for us to keep track of it all! This month, we launched a new podcast from Microsoft on the CyberWire Network, "Uncovering Hidden Risks." We also wanted share the newest member of the CyberWire's curated group of cybersecurity experts, aka the Hash Table, with you.
The latest addition to the CyberWire's podcast network is the "Uncovering Hidden Risks" podcast from Microsoft Security. It is the fourth podcast from Microsoft and the third of theirs that features a woman as host or co-host. "Uncovering Hidden Risks" explores how enterprises can reduce their risk by moving to a more holistic approach to data protection. Each episode features a panel of Microsoft security professionals and community security experts. They dive into topics like data governance, internal and external threats, risk management and compliance, industry trends, and customer challenges. Hosted by Erica Toelle,a senior product marketing manager on the Microsoft compliance product team, Erica is joined by a guest co-host on each monthly episode. The team dropped two episodes for the launch featuring guests Bret Arsenault, CVP, CISO at Microsoft, discussing transitioning to a holistic approach to data protection; and, Jeff Teper, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft 365 Collaboration, talking about ways to prepare for the future of data governance and collaboration. You can find the podcast on our website and also on your favorite podcast app.
Jennifer Reed, the Chief Information Security Officer at Aviatrix, joined the CyberWire's influential panel of industry leaders, the Hash Table. Jenn brings with her distinguished security engineering and cloud expertise that spans four decades of service. "Jenn is one of those rare wizards in our community who worked her way up from hands-on-keyboard sysadmin all the way to senior executive," shared Rick Howard, CyberWire's CSO, "She’s a total lead-from-the-front Marine who has seen every side of our industry from engineering and program administration to product management and cloud solutions. I'm thrilled that we get to learn from her and her work at Aviatrix." Stay tuned for Jenn's contributions to the Hash Table. In the meantime, please check out her article in this issue of Creating Connections.
Call for artists.
By the CyberWire team and Maryland Art Place
As you may know, part of the CyberWire's Women in Cybersecurity reception includes a specially-commissioned piece of art to the theme of the event, Creating Connections. We again are partnering with Maryland Art Place, or MAP, on our call for artists to submit pieces to be considered for the commission. MAP is one of the region’s leading arts organizations inspiring, supporting, and encouraging artistic expression through innovative programming, exhibitions, and educational opportunities. The Women in Cybersecurity event is all about creating connections among women working in cyber security, and of course, our field exists because of the extraordinary connectivity enabled by today’s technologies. We’re excited to see how this year’s artists interpret the theme. The winning selection will be reproduced and distributed to guests at the reception.
As the aim of the CyberWire’s reception is to facilitate connections among women working in cybersecurity, and would like to acquire a work of art that reflects the theme of “Creating Connections.” Inherent in the idea of connections is the idea of networks—social networks, computer networks and support networks—which may be an important point of departure for acquired or commissioned work. This opportunity is open to female and female identifying artists living and working in the Maryland, Virginia, DC region. The selected artist(s) will be joining a wonderful roster of artists as this program has developed over the years. They include: Claire Girodie (2014), Anna and Caroline Zellhofer (2015’), Lindsey McCulloch (2016), Carmen Martini (2017), Shanthi Chandrasekar (2018), and Jackie Hoystead (2019). You can see images of the previous chosen art on the event website. To learn more and submit your work for consideration, please see the full call for artists.
