elevenM’s newest recruit Jasmine Logaraj shares her thoughts on improving the culture within the cyber security industry, and how that will help to defend cyber threats.
This week, I had the opportunity to attend The CyberShift Alliance’s discussion “Addressing workplace culture in the cyber security sector.” The CyberShift Alliance is a collaboration between several associations including ISACA SheLeadsTech, FITT, CISO Lens, AWSN, the Australian Signal Directorate, AustCyber, ISC2 and AISA, DOTM, EY and Forrester Researcher, with the goal of addressing culture change within security. This alliance formed from an earlier International Women’s Day event run by AWSN and ISACA.
The purpose of the discussion this week was to raise awareness of toxicity in the cyber security industry. Speaker Jinan Budge, Principal Analyst at Forrester, described the main reasons for toxicity in the industry as being lack of organisational support, ego, and low leadership maturity.
Poor workplace culture is preventing good talent from joining the industry and making it harder to retain it. It is hindering the quality of work and preventing us as a nation from tackling cyber threats in the most inclusive, collaborative and, therefore, the most optimum way.
I asked Jinan and the panelists during the Q&A session to elaborate on the idea of toxicity being a barrier to young talent. Panelist Jacqui Kernot, Partner in Cyber Security at EY, said the reason it was hard to hire good talent was not because of a shortage of professionals with STEM skills, but because the industry needs to become a better place to work.
As cyber security professionals, we need to make this industry a more exciting and happier place. When recruiting, employers need to consider not only whether the employees are properly skilled, but whether they are the right fit for a good workplace culture, and in turn, whether their company is worthy of such wholesome candidates. Knowledge can be taught. Personality cannot.
Another interesting point raised during the discussion was the inability to speak out about bad behaviour in the cyber security industry. Jinan surveyed her professional network and found that 65% of respondents voted it to be “career suicide” to speak up about workplace problems, highlighting a fear of potential punishment for doing so.
Changing this consensus relies on us as cyber security professionals leading the way. As Jacqui pointed out: “the fish rots from the head.” It is not a HR problem, but something to be fixed at the leadership level and not denied or swept under the rug. If companies do not address these problems, they will continue to lose good talent, and in turn waste money, time, and effort, leaving them with fewer employees and a lessened reputation. Akin to our efforts to create a security-focused culture in our clients, at elevenM we believe good workplace culture similarly requires an effort to foster shared values through leadership and role-modeling.
I am grateful that there are individuals such as Jinan, Jacqui and James working in my industry who realise the importance of fostering a good workplace culture. With leaders like these, I remain hopeful for the future.
Photo credit: Hudson Hintze on Unsplash.