Relevance to Theme: The current challenges and cybersecurity skills gap has reached almost all main international media headlines. In face of a dynamic threat landscape populated by sensors, devices, AI bias, and others, both public and private sector face increasing challenges in addressing cybersecurity issues at the technical and political levels. Job openings on cybersecurity are on the rise, but the question remains as to whether:
(i) current workforce is prepared to address current threat vectors and actors,
(ii) industry and government have realistic expectations of job postings, and
(iii) sectors are ready to address biases in culture and education.
Diversity in the cybersecurity workforce goes well beyond tracking statistics and numbers, it is a prerequisite to better identifying, assessing, and responding to threats at the national, regional and international level. Having women in cybersecurity with different backgrounds is a key component to the cyber readiness of companies, academia, governments and civil society organizations alike.
Relevance to Internet Governance: The roundtable creates awareness on cybersecurity as well discussion how women can access to the internet to gain information and improve their employability. Most importantly, it highlights an important (and perhaps still underexplored) intersection between the themes discussed in the previous BPF Gender and Access (security of women and young women online) and the BPF on Cybersecurity (cybersecurity culture). This proposal is also in line with IGFs agenda on inclusivity and governance, as by women learning more about cybersecurity they will inevitably understand the full realisation of their rights on the Internet. This is a challenge that cuts across different stakeholder groups and the IGF is a unique space for promoting a multistakeholder dialogue on this topic. Furthermore, a discussion on the changing nature of work, skills, capacities, equality of access, and gender equality is a core element to the development of effective practices to ensure that operators, incident responders, policy-makers are ready to address and maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet.