A study of female cybersecurity professionals

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore what can be done to improve the number of qualified women working in cybersecurity and to investigate why there are so few of them. Twelve female cybersecurity experts were interviewed for this study using a grounded theory methodology to understand their perspectives on their views of the field. Participants shared ideas for encouraging more women to work in cybersecurity. The study's findings revealed four engagement elements and one unanticipated co-factor that are thought to affect individuals' inclinations to pursue careers in cybersecurity. The four factors—awareness, support, intrinsic and extrinsic values—were discovered. The intriguing discovery of the cybersecurity mindset profile component, which is thought to improve career trajectory success, calls for more investigation to learn the effects on the choice to enter the cybersecurity industry. Women now have a voice in suggesting ways to encourage other women to seek careers in cybersecurity as a result of the influence of this research. The study also aids in demystifying the components' complexity by categorizing and arranging them systematically to generate a theoretical model that will offer academics, and practitioners, a comprehensive understanding of how to educate future cybersecurity experts.