Women in IT Security News, Features, Awards and Commentary| SC Media

Conversations with honorees in the last couple of years demonstrate an inspiring drive to succeed and a demand for respect of their expertise. These women don’t seek validation. They understand the value they offer to an organization and their ability to drive progress both within and across the infosec community.

A handful of early or formative moments can heavily shape or influence women's decisions to remain on their career path in cybersecurity or pursue other kinds of work entirely. Together they reveal insights into where the industry has gone right — or wrong — in attempting to foster and develop female talent.

From harassment to falsehoods, Maggie Amato experienced a backlash she could never have anticipated as a government whistleblower. That situation demonstrated the power of finding one's voice in silencing the naysayers. Amato, now BISO with Salesforce, spoke to SC Media’s Jill Aitoro about her experiences.

Myths around digital health data amid the abortion conflict pose greater risk to women’s privacy and safety. As part of the 2022 Women in IT Security, SC Media spoke to a force in women's health and privacy about the current state of digital health controls to disbunk myths and find ways to protect providers, and their female patients.

The road to CISO for Allison Miller was not typical – but ultimately demonstrated the value that comes with the road less traveled for the security professional and the companies that choose to hire them. Miller, now CISO and VP of Trust with Reddit, spoke to SC Media’s Jill Aitoro about her experiences.

The immigrant experience can often drive individuals off course. But for Zinet Kemal, it helped propel her into a new professional world and fill a gap in education to drive security awareness into the youngest generation. Kemal, now a cloud security engineer with Best Buy, spoke to SC Media’s Jill Aitoro about her experiences. 

Serving the needs of customers that demand digital access, without compromising the security of systems or data, is an ongoing struggle – particularly in finance. Rhea Pritham Marpu a vice president with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and an SC Media Women in IT Security honoree, spoke to SC Media’s Jill Aitoro about her experiences.

Women from all segments of the cybersecurity market qualify – vendors, practitioners, educators, researchers – with the goal being to spotlight the advantage of broadening the aperture to recognize talent and power where it exists, not just where societal norms have historically led us to look.