Only 10 per cent of cyber-security bosses are women

Cybersecurity agency Eskenzi PR analysed the websites of 138 leading cyber firms and found that women hold just 10 per cent of board positions and 16 per cent of management positions.

Out of 609 board positions, only 60 were women, while out of 1700 management positions only 271 were women.

The study also looked at the types of management roles women hold within cyber-security organisations and it revealed that the majority hold senior roles in either marketing or HR.

There were only eight female CEO positions held and only one security company has an entirely female management team, compared to 19 companies that have entirely male management teams.

Eskenzi PR founder Yvonne Eskenzi called for more women “in driving seats” and urged companies to make a conscious effort to recruit more women.

“The challenges facing our society related to cyber-security threats are pervasive and will only get worse,” said Vanessa Pegueros, chief trust and security officer at OneLogin.

“We need talent not just from 50 per cent of the population (men), we need talent from 100 per cent of the population to tackle these complex problems.

“We need women at the board level and at the leadership/management level because we experience the world differently than men, and that experience is valuable in problem-solving.  We need a broader lens on these problems and that can only happen when women are at these elevated positions.”

A study conducted last year revealed that the engineering profession had a similar problem, with women consistently “underrepresented at the highest levels”.

The UK is currently facing a severe skills shortage of engineers and it is estimated that an additional 59,000 will need to be added to the workforce every year to meet the growing demand.