March marks the time each year when we recognise the women who are shaping cybersecurity, from those who pioneered the field of computing to the ones driving the industry’s future today.

We begin with a moth getting caught in a relay of the Harvard Mark II; the computer began to malfunction.  American computer scientist, mathematician, and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper and her team added that moth to their logbook and called it the “first actual bug.” Although “bug” and “debugging” were used previously, Grace Hopper’s anecdote made the terms well known to the general public.

The history of computing has many instances of women contributing to the field, but they were largely ignored or downplayed for much of history.

An example is Joan Clarke, a British cryptanalyst who worked with Alan Turing at Bletchley Park, England, during World War II. The work Clarke did in cracking the codes used by the German Enigma machine was very important in helping the Allies break those codes. More recently, Valerie Thomas, an American physicist and data scientist, served as head of NASA’s cybersecurity program from 1989 through 1993; she also developed key computer protocols.

Today, the list is growing longer, as women continue to shape cybersecurity strategy, governance, and research across the industry.

For instance, Sarah Armstrong-Smith (Microsoft’s Chief Security Advisor for EMEA) has 25-plus years of experience working in resilience, disaster recovery, and cyber defense. Also, Dr. Jessica Barker (co-founder of Cygenta) educated many thousands of professionals on the importance of the human element in cybersecurity through her numerous awareness sessions and is the founder of cybersecurity psychology as a research area.

Keren Elazari, has been one of the leading voices in the area of Hacktivism and Cyber Conflict, and she founded Leading Cyber Ladies to help women enter this industry. And then there is Theresa Payton, CEO of Fortalice Solutions and the first Female CIO of the White House, who is guiding global conversations around ransomware, AI, and digital risk.

Alongside these leaders, initiatives like SHe CISO Exec, started by Chani Simms, and the IN Security Movement, launched by Jane Frankland, are addressing one of the industry’s biggest problems: lack of representation. They have created mentorship programs for young professionals, scholarship opportunities for students interested in pursuing careers in cybersecurity, and positions for the next generation of cybersecurity leaders to reflect the diversity of the digital world they will protect tomorrow.

The women who are currently shaping the future of cybersecurity are doing what the pioneers of the past did – challenging the status quo, growing the field, redefining leadership, and making sure the creativity of the new generation of innovators will come from diverse backgrounds.

Top trends

• AI governance has become a top leadership issue for CISOs as organisations increasingly use generative AI across more of their security operations. It is now expected that CISOs will give direction over how AI is used, monitored, and audited within their business. The diversity of leadership will also play an important role in finding a balance between creating innovation with governance within these businesses.
• Behavioural science and security culture have taken centre stage in cybersecurity amid the growth of AI-driven attacks. Leaders such as Dr. Barker are helping businesses understand how they make decisions and how those decisions impact their cyber posture.
• Industry-led initiatives, such as the SHe CISO Exec and the IN Security Movement, have launched mentoring programmes for women who want to enter the field of cybersecurity, helping accelerate the creation of stronger leadership pipelines over the next decade.

Regulatory watch (EU)

The implementation of the EU AI Act is ongoing. New guidance is in the pipeline regarding the governance structure for high-risk AI systems. Focus is maintained on the results of the February 10 meeting of the AI Act Correspondents Network and preparing for enforcement in August. During this time, Margrethe Vestager, MEP Alexandra Geese, and AI ethics researcher Virginia Dignum are key influencers shaping the course of AI transparency, accountability, and trustworthy governance in Europe.

CISO voice

“AI is fast becoming embedded in everything we do across security operations. The challenge goes way beyond adopting machine learning or large language models; rather, it’s making sure we can explain their decisions, control their risks, and maintain trust when regulators, auditors, or customers start asking difficult questions.”

— Zoe Rose, CSIRT SecOps & Development Manager, Canon EMEA

Innovation / startup spotlight

Regulativ.ai and its “CompliaBot” concept have created a vision for how the next generation of compliance automation may evolve. The startup’s technology, in essence, converts complex sets of regulations (EU AI Act, DORA, GDPR, etc.) into AI-driven agents that continually monitor an organization’s internal policies. In doing so, the startup hopes to shift the burden of maintaining regulatory readiness from a compliance cost to a competitive advantage through an automated audit trail and continuous monitoring and detection of compliance drift in near real-time.

Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress update

AI governance, leadership, and real-world cybersecurity innovation will all be central themes at the upcoming Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress.

Dates: 3–5 November

Location: Barcelona

Co-located with: Smart City Expo World Congress

CONNECTING EUROPE’S CYBERSECURITY ECOSYSTEM