Addressing Gender Diversity in the Cybersecurity Profession to Enhance Business Value

Abstract

Businesses require a skilled workforce to define and implement innovative digital solutions and to protect them from incidents and cyber-attack. However, a major cybersecurity skills gap exists globally, with a significant underrepresentation of women in the profession. This chapter provides an overview of the barriers women experience and proposed interventions to enter and progress in the cybersecurity profession. The chapter concludes with the Cybersecurity for Women (CybSec4W) framework and checklist to foster a culture where women can enter and advance in the cybersecurity workforce, whilst incorporating the requisite organisation theory. Management can implement the framework with the outlined interventions to attract, retain, create and support a conducive and equitable culture in the organisation’s cybersecurity workspace to enable a strong capability to become cyber resilient, which will benefit the adoption of digital technologies for business growth.