Meet the Girls Changing the Face of Cyber Security

Right now, there is a critical shortage of people with the skills and training required to defend our computer systems. And not just against bugs and spam, but the growing ranks of criminals intent on stealing data, and/or organizing terrorist plots — to say nothing of the complex mix of state and non-state players involved. In fact, a report released at this year’s RSA Security Conference predicted a global shortfall of 1.5 million qualified information security professionals by 2020. Considering our modern society’s reliance on computers to do, well, pretty much everything, this is a fairly major issue.

This shortage is already thought to be detrimental to security in many organizations, and addressing this problem — through improvements in education and career guidance — is vital to the future health of our digital economy. That’s why ESET and Securing Our eCity (SOeC) are striving to be a part of that effort, establishing their Cyber Bootcamp in 2013 as part of its mission to educate the next generation of cyber defenders and bring awareness to an industry that affects everyone’s lives.

Last month a diverse set of more than 50 students from Los Angeles and San Diego filled the auditorium and classrooms of National University for a week-long intensive training in cyber security. This year was not only the largest, but also had the highest amount of girls participating, which is incredibly exciting. In 2013, there were zero girls at Bootcamp (how is that possible?!) and in 2014 there were two (what, really?).

However, in an incredible uptick, this year there saw more than 20 girls participate, bringing Cyber Bootcamp’s numbers to about a 60/40 split. With all of the students working together, there was unique perspective and creative ways of problem-solving exhibited throughout the week. Volunteers from ESET, National University, SiegeSecure and others across the region helped students learn about IT security and get hands-on experience in defending networks.

Check out the video featuring some impressive young minds working to make our world a safer place.

Featured Image Credit: Twitter/ Stephen Cobb

Gif Credit: Giphy