“Take Credit Where Credit Is Due and Celebrate the Wins”: Trender Laura Brandon’s Mantra To Close The Gap in Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is a male-dominated field around the world, with women representing roughly 24% of the workforce1. The numbers are even slimmer if we break it down by region: North American women account for 14%, in Europe, 7%2, in APAC 10%1, and in the Middle East, an alarming 5%2. ?

In a profession that is skewed towards one sex, it is critical to talk about equal representation.

On account of International Women’s Day (celebrated on March 8 annually), Laura Brandon, Technical Lead from Trend Micro ANZ shares with us the inspiration behind her foray into cybersecurity and what advice she has for women wishing to embark on the same journey.

When Personal Becomes Professional

Winner of the Best Female Secure Coder at the?AWSN - Australian Women in Security Network?Awards, Laura recalls how cybersecurity wasn’t always her plan.

“I haven’t always had an innate calling to technology. Growing up I disliked anything to do with computers.” Laura was ushered into the world of technology by her late father, who she recalls as a local computer nerd who went around fixing the community’s hardware and software issues.

“Getting into technology was a way for me to become closer to him [Laura’s father]. I started writing Perl to build IRC bots that led me to Bash where I wrote scripts,” she said. ?

What started at a very personal level evolved into a passion for Laura’s work on other high-level programming languages. However, as with a lot of other fields, the gender gap, and barriers to entry in IT security threatened to destabilise her efforts.

Overcoming The Imposter Syndrome

Despite the wealth of knowledge and experience under her belt, Laura felt she must constantly battle with self-doubt and the ‘imposter syndrome’. “I have 10 years of experience in the industry and was recently promoted yet somehow, I still feel like I’m not good enough,” she said.

Self-doubt and imposter syndrome are common in the workplace, but women, especially women of colour, are particularly vulnerable, greatly due to corporate culture that still favours men in leadership positions, negative stereotypes, and the lack of role models.?According to a survey by GISW, wages of women are 3% lower than men at the level of director; 4% lower at managerial level; and 6% less at entry-level and non-managerial roles.1

Laura believes changing the status quo begins with taking a stand and celebrating the little wins along the way. “I have found that sharing my experiences has helped quieten my imposter-led thoughts, to take credit where credit it is due and celebrate the wins, no matter how small.”

Additionally, the gender imbalance in the industry has the potential to create unfavourable opinions that deter women from pursuing a career in technology – even if they are passionate about the sector.

However, with a cybersecurity gap of 3.1 million professionals worldwide3, opportunities are rife for women to kickstart fruitful careers in IT security. ISC2 noted, encouraging women to pursue STEM degrees in college and providing mentorship and support to women as the best ways to close the gender disparity in cybersecurity.1

Laura believes taking a leap of faith is the best way for women to foster knowledge and develop relevant skills required to excel in the field.

“The tech industry is so broad, and it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Dive in and give things a go,” she said. “Try new things and learn from them. Figure out what area of expertise you find the most engaging and rewarding and run with it.”?

The importance of finding the right mentor is also second-to-none, paving the way for new connections and opportunities. “Find someone who understands your strengths and weaknesses. Mentors often have connections that you have not yet established, and this opens the door to many new opportunities,” Laura said. ?

She recalls how some of the biggest projects of her career were the result of her mentor connecting her with fellow industry professionals. Most importantly, Laura believes the best place to start is by making a conscious choice about one’s workplace – an organisation that values all sexes and offers counsel.

“Trend Micro’s level of support for employees is unrivalled. Many people, including myself, experienced challenging times during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said. “We were provided with resources to seek help and niceties such as care packages and half-day Fridays, but more importantly, it felt like we were in it together.”

Closing The Gap

In a bid to cultivate and support a diverse workforce and cybersecurity sector, organisations will need to look for, and retain female talent. As propagators and torchbearers of cybersecurity awareness and inclusiveness, we believe change begins at home.

To address the lack of representation, we have implemented a slew of initiatives aimed at foresting women’s interest and confidence in cybersecurity through our CPITS (Certification Program in IT Security) which brings up the new generation of security professionals each year.

Our Founder and CEO Evan Chen was named one of the Top 100 Women in Cybersecurity for 2020 and went on to mentor a legion of female professionals in the larger technology sector.

We believe the?diversity?of our workforce makes us stronger and our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at the workplace, as well as recruiting, retaining, and promoting women in the field. Visit our Close the Gap??programs?to learn more about how Trend Micro is working to bridge the cybersecurity gap by supporting diverse talent.

What about you? Are you considering a tech career? Already there but facing challenges? Have?advice to share? Let us know in the comments below.

?

1. The Global Information Security Workforce Study Benchmarking Workforce Capacity and Response to Cyber Risk. Center for Cyber Safety and Education. Frost & Sullivan, 2017.

2. Reed J., Zong Y., Terwoerds L., and Brocaglia J. 2017. “The 2017 Global Information Security Workforce Study: Women in Cybersecurity”,?Frost & Sullivan, Santa Clara, USA

3. (ISC)2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, 2020

4. Why imposter syndrome hits women and women of colour harder, BBC, 2020