For the first time ever, IBM will fund a scholarship that allows all women who are interested in attending Hacker Halted to do so for free.
The cybersecurity industry is facing a talent shortage — there will be an estimated 1.8 million open and unfilled information security jobs within the next several years. With women representing only 11 percent of the information security workforce, creating more opportunities for women in security is a critical part of improving the talent pool in the fight against cybercrime.
To address the challenge and open opportunities in this high-demand field, EC-Council (the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants, which is the world’s largest cybersecurity technical certification body) and IBM Security have announced a scholarship program for women to attend EC-Council’s Hacker Halted security conference free of charge. Hacker Halted will take place in Atlanta, Georgia October 9-10th.
“Improving the diversity of the cybersecurity workforce is essential to overcoming the growing threats and challenges facing the industry – and supporting growth opportunities for women in this field is a critical part of that equation,” says Diane Delaney, IBM Security Worldwide Talent Manager. “By providing scholarships at conferences like this, IBM hopes that more women will be encouraged to attend the event and stay up to speed on the latest trends and techniques which will help them become even more successful in the field.”
The theme for Hacker Halted 2017 is the “The Art of Cyberwar: Lessons from Sun Tzu.” 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote 13 chapters on military strategy. Fast forward to today and we are still learning from those chapters and applying them in our newfound digital age — an age where war is waged over cables and microchips instead of battlefields.
Hacker Halted’s agenda includes speakers like Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Y. Wong, Chief of Staff at the Army Cyber Institute; cyber entrepreneur and security researcher Georgia Weidman of Shevirah; and Deidre Diamond, Founder and CEO of national cyber security staffing company CyberSN.
Women who wish to register for Hacker Halted under the scholarship should visit the registration page and use registration code HH17IBM for free entry.
There is no deadline, but interested attendees are encouraged to register as soon as possible.