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<\/a><\/p>\nSuccessful companies know that by building diversity and inclusion within their ranks, they can better understand and serve their many and varied customers. Cybersecurity teams need to read from the same playbook so they can better anticipate and block attacks launched by all kinds of people from all sorts of places.<\/p>\n
\u201cCybercriminals come from different backgrounds and geo-locations and have different mindsets,\u201d Kelley says. \u201cThey collaborate and use very diverse attack techniques to come after individuals, companies, and countries. So, it helps us also to have a very diverse set of protection and controls to stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowing how attackers might think and act can be difficult for any cybersecurity team, particularly if it is made up of people from similar backgrounds with similar viewpoints. It is the kind of conformity that can even lead to a sort of \u201cgroupthink,\u201d which results in blind spots and unintended bias.<\/p>\n
The power of different viewpoints<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIf people think in the same ways again and again, they are going to come up with the same answers. This only stops when different viewpoints are raised, and different questions are heard.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelley says attackers come from, and operate in, many different environments, and cybersecurity teams need to match this diversity as much as they can. However, the make-up of today\u2019s international cybersecurity community remains surprisingly homogenous.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout 90 percent are men and, depending on where you are in the world, they are often white men,\u201d she says. \u201cIn Asia, it tends to be a little worse. Only about nine percent are women.\u201d<\/p>\n The need for change comes amid unprecedented demand for cybersecurity and a chronic shortage of skilled specialists across the world. Kelley sees this an opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got this big gap in hiring, so why not create a more diverse and inclusive community of people working on the problem?\u201d she said in an interview on her recent visit to Singapore, one of many global cities vying for talent in the sector.<\/p>\n One major concern is gender imbalance. Even though many well-paying jobs are up for grabs, relatively few women are taking up, and staying in, cybersecurity roles.<\/p>\n Fixing the gender imbalance<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got into the field almost 30 years ago, women had very low representation in computer science in general,\u201d Kelley says. \u201cBack then, I just assumed it would change over time. But it hasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Studies show that girls often drop out of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects in middle or high school. Some women university graduates do enter the profession. But a lot end up leaving \u2013 many for cultural reasons in the workplace.<\/p>\n