Identity is Security: When It Rains, It Pours

Did you know only 11% of cybersecurity specialists are women? That is an astonishingly low number if you think about every job that encompasses the information security workforce. Well, have no fear, the UK-based National Cyber Security Centre hopes to change that statistic and move the needle with a competition. According to BBC News, girls in the UK are testing out their cyber skills to stay safe online. I love reading stories like this one. You might recall that last year it was reported that the Girl Scouts would soon start offering badges in cybersecurity. With initiatives like these popping up across the globe, I think it is safe to say we will see more women entering the cybersecurity workforce in no time—a welcomed change from my perspective.

Next, is another headline that caught my attention this past week when BetaNews reported that “data breaches are more common than rain in the U.K.” While this quip definitely raises eyebrows, it’s not too far from reality. The article found that the UK faced a 36% chance of rain every day on average in the last year. We compared their rain chances with one of our stats. We conducted a recent poll that found 44% of IT leaders report their organization has suffered a cyber-attack in the last 12 months. I think we can all agree that we’d rather have a little rain than a full-blown data breach. As they say, when it rains, it pours, and when it comes to cybersecurity, most of us can agree that’s the truth!

Speaking of cybersecurity, we published an awesome Q&A this week with one of our customers, Dave Elfering, VP information security at Werner Enterprises. Our resident blogger and longtime cybersecurity writer George Hulme caught up with Dave to discuss how he got his start in information security, the maturing of security at Werner, and his creation of a formal identity and access management program. We love hearing from our customers and learning about their journey to cybersecurity and identity and hope you love reading about them as much as we love sharing their stories.

With that, we leave you to wrap up your week. Let us know what security stories caught your eye.