Day of Shecurity: The Top Women in Federal Cybersecurity

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Women represent only 11 percent of the information security workforce. Now is the time to change the status quo by advocating more women to consider cybersecurity as a possible career path.

We feel passionately about needing more women working to secure the world, and created the Day of Shecurity to continue the conversation in a concrete, actionable way. Confirming the interest in bringing more women into the field, the sold-out event provided a forum to help advance the inclusion of women and diversification of cybersecurity.

In the federal arena, thankfully, we have many women in government  who are paving the way for women interested in pursuing a career in security. While this year's Day of Shecurity did not necessarily have a government focus, we wanted to shine a light on some of the top female fed cyber executives:

Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): As the head of DHS, Nielsen recently spearheaded the unveiling of the new national strategy for addressing the growing number of cyber security risks as it works to assess them and reduce vulnerabilities.

Amélie Koran, Deputy Chief Information Officer, HHS Office of Inspector General: In addition to driving the IT and cyber missions at HHS, Koran is an advocate for more females pursuing cybersecurity leadership roles, and is a voice for more diversity in government IT.

Donna Dodson, Chief Cybersecurity Advisor, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Overseeing the first update to NIST's Cybersecurity Framework since 2014, Dodson was also the driver for 2015 NIST draft guide for healthcare providers on mobile device security.

Margaret H. Graves, Federal Deputy Chief Information Officer of the United States: With the Modernizing Government Technology Act (MGT) now signed, Graves is driving much of the current federal IT infrastructure upgrades, which will help agencies audit and identify cyber vulnerabilities.

Judith Baltensperger, Project Manager, DHS: Baltensperger is responsible for developing, deploying and supporting Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation dashboards to help agencies improve the cybersecurity of their networks.

Marianne Bailey, Deputy CIO for Cybersecurity, Department of Defense (DoD): Bailey serves as a key cybersecurity adviser for all U.S. government national security systems deemed critical for military and intelligence activities. In addition, she led the DoD's threat-based cybersecurity architecture review.

Thanks to the inspirational efforts of these leading executives, and forums like Day of Shecurity, a new generation of women will emerge to lead security innovation and improve our industry.