Cyber security leaders from government, industry and academia gathered at Parliament House this week for the second annual Women in Cyber Security Summit, where speakers called for stronger action to improve diversity across the country\u2019s rapidly growing cyber workforce.<\/p>\n
The event, organised by the Australian Information Security Association, brought together senior figures to discuss practical steps for building stronger talent pipelines, creating more inclusive career pathways.<\/p>\n
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Women currently make up just 17 per cent of Australia\u2019s cyber security workforce despite rising demand for skilled professionals.<\/p>\n
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Scarlett McDermott, board director at the Australian Information Security Association, said improving diversity was essential to strengthening Australia\u2019s national cyber resilience.<\/p>\n
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\u201cCyber security is one of the most critical capabilities for Australia\u2019s future, and we simply cannot afford to overlook half the talent pool,\u201d McDermott said in a statement.<\/p>\n
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\u201cDiverse teams bring different ways of thinking, different problem-solving approaches and different life experiences. In cyber security that diversity of thinking is a genuine operational advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She added that events such as the Women in Cyber Security Summit provide an opportunity for leaders across the ecosystem to focus on practical initiatives that can expand the workforce and create clearer pathways for women entering the field.<\/p>\n
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International cybersecurity expert Ren\u00e9e Burton, vice president of threat intelligence at Infoblox, said increasing female representation in cyber security should be treated as a strategic priority for the industry.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHaving more women in cybersecurity must be a strategic imperative across the industry. Cyber-crime in the Asia-Pacific region is only going to get more difficult to tackle, driven in part by constantly evolving AI threats,\u201d Burton said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cGiven the road ahead, events like the Women in Cybersecurity Summit are critical. I\u2019m proud to be involved in an event that both advocates for women in the industry and connects influential leaders to address the glaring need for diversity in the cybersecurity workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Alongside the summit, AISA also announced the recipients of its 2026 Cyber Security Scholarships, which support emerging professionals as they begin careers in the sector.<\/p>\n
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The 2026 scholarship recipients are Paige Crabtree, Jasmine Rizwan, Emily Zhang, Nicola Hall and Alice Kjar.<\/p>\n
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Megan Spielvogel, general manager of the Australian Information Security Association, said the scholarships play an important role in building the next generation of cyber professionals.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are incredibly proud to support these outstanding scholarship recipients as they begin their careers in cyber security,\u201d Spielvogel said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cDeveloping the next generation of cyber professionals is critical to Australia\u2019s digital future, and these scholarships are designed to help talented individuals access the opportunities and networks that will support their success.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cyber security leaders from government, industry and academia gathered at Parliament House this week for the second annual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-534924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}