WSC is a non-profit whose mission is to advance women and girls in cybersecurity. We have affordable membership for women (those that identify as women or nonbinary), veteran/military and men. We
Lisa Jiggetts Founder, Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu
are an inclusive organisation that aims to level the playing field and increase diversity in cybersecurity. We do that by hosting a variety of mostly hands-on workshops, webinars, conferences, hacking events, study groups, and—my favourite—happy hour/ networking events. Many of us have become family and close friends
I
and I like to believe that’s what differentiates and drives WSC. We just want be a support platform—one ’m a pentester, aka an ethical hacker. I assess an
I did not have when getting started—to help women
organisation’s system/network to find and exploit
get into cybersecurity and advance their careers in
vulnerabilities for the purpose of identifying any
cybersecurity.
weak spots that malicious attackers could take advantage of.
valued equally with men’s. We’re getting there, but I
I enjoy the hunt, and the challenge of finding
think it’s a mindset that will take years to change. And
misconfigurations and vulnerabilities: knowing I am
diversity is more than simply having equal numbers
directly helping a customer secure their environment
of men and women, it’s about having diverse people.
gives me great satisfaction.
At the end of the day it boosts the bottom line. You’re
The great thing about pentesting is that it can be
going to get a variety of inputs when developing
done remotely full-time. If anything positive can be
solutions.
said about the pandemic, it is that it opened people’s
And I think there will be even greater demand for
eyes and presented opportunities to implement
pentesters. As we’ve seen very recently with the
change in how we communicate securely, as well
attacks on infrastructure and government systems,
as how to co-ordinate recovery from a serious
companies are changing their tune to become more
compromise when staff are in multiple locations.
proactive rather than reactive, which should include
I’m also the founder of the Women’s Society of
regular pentesting. Having pentesters on deck
Cyberjutsu (WSC). I started it in 2012 because, at the
ensures they keep up with the latest attacks and
time, there wasn’t a space where I felt comfortable
countermeasures.
and safe learning, in an area typically seen as a “guys
The most challenging aspect of being a pentester
thing”. I wanted to be able to geek out and do some
is keeping up with all the things you need to know.
hacking, or build a new lab, but such a space just
You have to know a little bit of many things, but
wasn’t there, so I created one. I also wanted to share
alot of a few things.. With new technologies being
my knowledge of pentesting with other women with
implemented, on top of the breaches, trying to keep
the hope of getting more qualified women into the
up with everything and have a decent work life
pentesting workforce. I believe seeing more women in
balance is, for me, the most challenging aspect of my
atypical roles encourages upcomers, especially young
role.
women and girls, to aspire to those roles.
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I don’t think, in general, women’s contributions are
WOMEN IN SECURITY MAGAZINE
