Making an Impact from India to the Rest of the World by Building and Nurturing Women Infosec Community

Infosec Girls is a community that aims to bridge the gap in cybersecurity education and training, especially for women and college students. They provide virtual and in-person workshops, training, and scholarships to encourage diversity and upskill people in the field. The community has chapters and leaders around the world, and they have trained over 3000 women globally. They also collaborate with schools, universities, and conferences to refine their curriculum and promote cybersecurity awareness.

• Infosec Girls aims to bridge the gap in cybersecurity education and training, especially for women and college students
• They provide virtual and in-person workshops, training, and scholarships to encourage diversity and upskill people in the field
• The community has chapters and leaders around the world, and they have trained over 3000 women globally
• They collaborate with schools, universities, and conferences to refine their curriculum and promote cybersecurity awareness

Jasmine, Kieran, Manisha, Shifa, and Shivani are some of the people who have been impacted by Infosec Girls. Jasmine overcame her stage fear with their help, Kieran learned from other speakers and spoke for the first time at an online meet, Manisha found support and advice from the community, Shifa got a place to learn and grow herself as a startup owner, and Shivani has been helping them refine and initiate multiple initiatives and projects.

India is one of the most diverse and fastest growing countries in the world and due to the fast growth, women often are left behind. The world average female literacy rate is 79.7%, while in India the average rate is just 65.46, and for women that enter the technology workforce it is even lower and for those entering into cyber security it is even less. The talk is about the journey of Infosecgirls community which started in India with the goal of bringing more women into the cyber security workforce and integrating them with the larger community and is now reaching a global audience. The Initiative was conceptualized because of a need to have a warm and nurturing environment for women where they can easily discuss information security and over a period of time moulded to help women, students, kids, and underprivileged communities to come forward and be part of cyber security ecosystem.In the talk, I will share how we started, the challenges encountered on the way, what we have achieved so far, and the learnings from our journey. I will also talk about the free technical training we provide at conferences or colleges and how these trainings have enabled individuals start their InfoSec journey or make themselves better and more confident in their roles.