Sexism in Information Security?

by Marcus J. Carey on April 26, 2009

Is there sexism in Information Security? I asked myself this question because I caught myself referring to information security professionals as “Guys”. There are brilliant women in our industry, but there needs to be much more. Why aren’t there more women in our field? Leave a comment or hit me on Twitter @marcusjcarey.

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

J.D. Abolins April 26, 2009 at 1:44 pm

Marcus, good vlog post. In some of the cyberinvestigator conferences, I have met some amazing women in the forensics and investigations field.

Maybe one part of the challenge is the scope we give for the info sec field. It is quite varied and getting more so.

Jesse April 27, 2009 at 1:41 am

I agree to an extent. Diversity should be something considered in every role within an organization, but not at the expense of security. Many times people will get hired in the interest of diversity, but will sacrifice experience to get there. In a administrative(systems/network) a mistake can usually be noticed and corrected quickly, but in a security environment a mistake may go unnoticed until after the network has been owned. When there is a push to get diversity people are hired above their abilities. I agree we should groom the future (our children). I have a daughter who I would love to see working Info Sec, but I've resigned myself to the fact that she wants to be a Vet. Good vlog though. We as a community need to look at how we can reach out to the future.

Marcus J. Carey April 27, 2009 at 1:52 pm

Jesse we are on the same page. My point was there are talented women who could do our industry good. I don't believe in diversity just for "diversity's sake". I want to have the most talented people working in information security regardless of sex or any other label. I've worked with plenty of people that are clueless in the our field from all backgrounds. I just look for talent wherever it comes from.

zubin71 June 5, 2009 at 5:22 am

Very true!
The number of women genuinely interested in the field of Information Security is very low compared to males.
I feel this is really sad; as women have their own way of thinking; efforts should definitely be made in this regard!!
good point brought out in this point; true, yet often left un-noticed.

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: