How A Trail-Blazing STEM Mentor Is Revolutionizing Cybersecurity

It is time to change the conversation about filling over 3.1 million cybersecurity jobs!

We have been stuck in a hiring rut for information assurance positions (which I provide a short description of in the show), including the subset of cybersecurity jobs, since we started hiring for such positions decades ago. I’ve heard for many years from organizations that they cannot fill information security, privacy or compliance positions, while at the same time I’m also hearing from many folks, who want to enter the industry or change positions, that they are applying for dozens of positions but never hear back from the organizations where the open positions were posted, or that they thought they had a great interview, but then never heard back from the organization.

It is time to stop the information assurance positions hiring insanity!

The numbers of women & people of color are still a woefully small percentage of the IT and cyber/data/network/applications security workforce. Such lack of diversity results in weak and flawed IT, security and privacy practices, applications, networks, and data protection. We see this demonstrated almost daily in the many news and trade publications headlines describing breaches, flawed tech, and cyber incidents.

I recently discussed the related issues with cybersecurity expert, T-Mobile Corporation Cybersecurity Engineer, President of Women in Security (WinS) Mentors Inc., industry leader & long-time rock-star cybersecurity guru and mentor, Dr. Cheryl Cooper.

Just a few of the topics we covered:

• What led Dr. Cooper to having a career in cybersecurity?
• What does Dr. Cooper consider to be her greatest career achievement to date?
• In what ways is Dr. Cooper working to change society with her mentoring work?
• What advice does Dr. Cooper have for the many displaced workers in their 40s, 50s and beyond, with no IT or cybersecurity background who would like to start a cybersecurity career?
• What are common challenges that all ages of women and people of color face in cybersecurity careers, and what type of support do members of WINS provide to them?
• In what ways has Dr. Cooper brought industry to large city school systems?
• What changes does Dr. Cooper see necessary in cybersecurity career hiring and employment practices?
• What advice does Dr. Cooper have for those who would like a career in cybersecurity but do not know where to start?

And so many other topics.

As Dr. Cooper stated in her recent post

“We’re changing the conversation about filling the 3.1. million cybersecurity jobs. We’re talking about individuals who have degrees and certifications who can’t get a cybersecurity job. Join myself and Rebecca Herold as we continue to talk about the importance of mentoring, challenges with gaining entry, and how we’re supporting our colleagues. We want to hear from you.”

Yes! We want to hear from you.

Keep an ear out also, in this December episode of my show Data Security and Privacy with the Privacy Professor, for my shoutout to CompTIA and one of their many research reports.

We would love to have your feedback on the show! What did you find most useful? What additional thoughts do you have to share? Please let us know!

Here's the link to the show: https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/127221/how-a-trail-blazing-stem-mentor-is-revolutionizing-cybersecurity

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