Posted: 10 Dec. 2018 5 min. read

Women in Cyber: Closing the Skills Gap - NCSC CyberFirst Girls Competition

Registration is now open for the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) CyberFirst Girls competition. The competition is an excellent way for young women to gain cyber security and problem-solving skills, work as a team and most importantly have fun. Technology touches on pretty much every part of daily life, so you don't have to be code breaker to get involved.

The competition is an opportunity to encourage a whole new generation to get involved in what has been a predominantly male profession. We are living in the fourth industrial revolution, and with the trend towards digitalisation and the rise of cyber crime, cyber security has become one of the hottest and fastest-growing fields today.

As the industry continues to expand, so too do the job opportunities, and yet women are still far less likely than men to work in cyber security. Women currently only make up 11% of the global cyber workforce, and there are more men named Steve or David who are FTSE 100 CEOs than women. Attitudes towards gender balance in the workplace are changing though.

Deloitte is working to improve this as part of our Women in Cyber (WiC) programme; as a company and as an employer we want to narrow the gender gap by raising awareness of the diverse career opportunities available to women in cyber security, by addressing gender biases, and by starting a dialogue that helps women to confidently navigate the industry.

To improve the gender balance in cyber security we need to create opportunities for women of all ages to learn about the field and have a chance to get involved. As a result, Deloitte is a keen supporter of the NCSC’s CyberFirst Girls competition and we wish all competitors the best of luck.

If you know a 12 or 13 year-old girl who you think would be interested in taking up the CyberFirst challenge, then more details can be found on the NCSC's webpage here.

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Key contacts:

Lisa Hamilton

Lisa Hamilton

Director

Lisa is a Director in the Cyber Risk practice with a focus on financial services. She has over 11 years’ experience in the Information Security industry working in the private and public sectors, on large and complex security transformation projects. Lisa plays a leadership role in Deloitte’s Women in Cyber initiative. Before Deloitte, Lisa worked for a consultancy providing information security advice and guidance to private sector organisations and, prior to that, she worked for the UK Ministry of Defence. She has a degree in information systems with a masters in information security from Royal Holloway.

Chris Atkinson

Chris Atkinson

Manager

Chris is a Manager within Deloitte’s Cyber Risk Services team, with a focus on Government and Public Services . His experience is mostly within Risk Assessment and Risk Management, he is also an experienced Intelligence Analyst. Chris has over 14 years’ experience working in and with UK Government and Public Services. Chris is currently using his experience from working in the Department for Education to co-lead the schools strand of Deloitte’s Women in Cyber initiative. Please reach out to Chris if you want to hear more about the work we are doing with schools and universities within the initiative.