Kaspersky advances plans to encourage women into cyber

Kaspersky Lab has developed new partnerships in an effort to encourage more women to consider careers in the cyber security field.

The firm announced support of the Girls in Tech Amplify competition, the signing of the PwC Tech She Can charter and developing its own internal women’s network.

Ilijana Vavan, managing director of Kaspersky Lab in Europe, explained that as a woman, she is passionate about encouraging other women into the sector as she has “first-hand” experience of how “rewarding” it is.  

“I’m delighted to announce our sponsorship of the Amplify competition and am excited to see the innovation that will be showcased at the event,” she said.

“Kaspersky Lab is formally committing to supporting women into technology careers with its CyberStarts initiative, and being able to forge an ongoing relationship with such a dynamic organisation as Girls in Tech will help us come closer to our goal.”

It has been widely acknowledged by experts that the lack of women in cyber security is a concern, and that encouraging more women into the sector could contribute towards closing the cyber-skills gap.

Cyber roles are currently widely advertised, and many firms are doing their part to try to encourage talent from more diverse walks to life to consider careers in the industry.

To try to encourage women into cyber security across the pipeline, Kaspersky has sponsored the Girls in Tech Amplify competition, which took place in October 2018 to give girls access to venture capitalists, as well as the opportunity to pitch their ideas for technology startups.  

The winner of this competition receives a prize, as well as access to mentoring and coaching to further develop their startup. This year’s winner was a French team called Altaroad, a road infrastructure platform which specialises in developing a platform that could be used for road operators or city traffic managers to manage autonomous and connected cars.

Jamie Soon, managing director of Girls in Tech in Paris said: “Thanks to the generous support from Kaspersky Lab, we are able to send the winning entrepreneurial women from Amplify on an all-expenses-paid residency week, focused on entrepreneurship, in Singapore, in honour of the France-Singapore Year of Innovation.

“This will allow them to gain experience in the local ecosystem and learn and receive support from our local partners on how to build relevance for the Asian market. Girls in Tech is dedicated to promoting careers in technology to young women and committed to developing initiatives that support this goal.”

Kaspersky also signed the PwC Tech She Can charter, a commitment from signatory organisations to work together to increase the number of women in tech across the UK by educating women about how to achieve careers in technology, what to expect from technology roles and sharing best practice on how to encourage women into technology with other organisations.

As well as hosting a number of CyberStarts events globally to promote cyber security careers, it has also launched a dedicated women’s network for its employees in the UK to support its female talent through a mentoring programme, networking events and a speaker series.