Jelena Zelenovic Matone, chief information security officer at the European Investment Bank and president of Women Cyber Force, talks about the ways women help the IT and cybersecurity fields in her forecast for 2023. Photo: Mike Zenari

Jelena Zelenovic Matone, chief information security officer at the European Investment Bank and president of Women Cyber Force, talks about the ways women help the IT and cybersecurity fields in her forecast for 2023. Photo: Mike Zenari

Jelena Zelenovic Matone, chief information security officer at the European Investment Bank, and president of Women Cyber Force explains the need for more women in cybersecurity.

Information technology, and specifically cybersecurity, are fast-paced, ever-changing fields that offer many opportunities and challenges.

About 3.7m cybersecurity jobs globally are unfilled today, and this number is rising. Imagine how many of these jobs can be filled in Europe. It’s a great chance for us to increase employment, but also to increase the number of women in these roles. The list of potential candidates for IT jobs is vast. Almost half of the people taking cybersecurity jobs come from outside the IT fields. Many people are taking these jobs after going back to school or deciding to go down a new career path. 

We must talk transparently about the candidates who usually go for IT and cybersecurity jobs. Being open about this issue allows us to reflect accurately on our progress toward female equality as employers, colleagues and individuals. As a female working in cybersecurity, I know that attracting girls and women to cybersecurity as early as possible is critical to the growth and impact of our organisations. Some of the technical sides of IT and cybersecurity may not be for everybody, but there are many types of jobs in these fields, such as policy creation, compliance work, controls and more.

A new trend I did not see when entering the field some 20 years ago is the number of female mentors in IT and cybersecurity. Many new associations encourage and educate women who are just entering the fields from school or from another career.

It’s comforting to see these new mentor associations. The Women Cyber Force, for example, is an association close to my heart, with a membership of great women helping drive many good results via networking and mentoring. I’m the president of this association, and one of our main jobs is to dispel harmful myths about cybersecurity careers for women. Our volunteer work is worth it if we can increase the numbers of women in IT and cybersecurity.

But let’s be honest: While many women have found their voices in these fields, many more face inequality. I hope the dialogue increases until we reach diversity and equality in the IT field. All women deserve to be treated equally and recognised as valued professionals in all parts of society.

There are several ways women help the IT and cybersecurity fields:

1. Cyber attackers come from many backgrounds. Our sector needs diversity to understand the bad players, provide new ways to resolve problems and better manage IT and cybersecurity problems.

2. The shortage of IT and cybersecurity workers will only grow. We need to continue supporting diversity and equality in these fields. There are plenty of IT and cybersecurity jobs to explore--don’t be afraid!

3. Many workplaces have started allowing teleworking. This could cause an increase in cyberattack risks, which would increase the need for more jobs in this field.

I encourage all women to take a leap of faith. The process of growing and evolving takes time. Just don’t give up.