Acronis CyberFit Summit: More Women, Diversity Needed in Cybersecurity

An Acronis CyberFit Summit 2022 panel on Tuesday focused on the need for more women and diversity in the global cybersecurity industry.

The “#CyberWomen — What’s Next?” panel kicked off day 2 of Acronis CyberFit Summit in Miami. The theme of the conference is “cyber protect the future.”

Aliona Geckler (shown above onstage) is senior vice president and chief of staff at Acronis. She said Acronis launched a diversity program this year. The three pillars of the program include mentoring, regional meet ups, and internal and external events.

“At Acronis, we take diversity very seriously,” she said.

The panel included:

Taylor said encouraging more women in tech isn’t just for women, but for everyone.

“It’s really important that you’re an active participant and we do it together,” she said.

‘Tons’ of Reasons for Women to be in Cybersecurity

There’s “tons” of important reasons for women to be in cybersecurity, Taylor said. First, diversity and inclusion increases innovation, productivity and profitability.

“Second, we really need more role models, mentors and peers to provide support for those currently in the space because there’s a big retention problem,” she said.

In addition, as the need for cyber talent continues growing, talent can’t keep up, Taylor said. Women make up half of the workforce and can be a “driving force” in cybersecurity.

Babinchak said women may be unfairly passed over during the recruitment process. That’s because they can approach the application and interview process differently from men, and therefore are discounted by recruiters.

In addition, women can be prone to “imposter syndrome,” she said. They may omit experience from their resume if they don’t feel 100% qualified, while men will include the experience even if they are less qualified.

“We see a lot of women enter and then exit the industry, so that shows they’re not satisfied,” Babinchak said. “So to women and men, support continuing education. There’s a lot of job satisfaction in continually learning. Bring the women in your business to these conferences. We need to bring women forward, bring them to conferences and include them.”

Scroll through our slideshow above for more from day 2 of Acronis CyberFit.