Sofia Bekrar

Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in the cybersecurity field. Founded through a National Science Foundation grant to Tennessee Tech University in 2012, WiCyS (pronounced Wee-Sis) is the brainchild of Dr. Ambareen Siraj, who grew the initiative into a vibrant and active community of women and supportive men from academia, industry, government and research. The organization is working to improve diversity and pipeline in the cybersecurity workforce, and it does so through numerous initiatives, together with Strategic Partners and an army of energetic volunteers. WiCyS'​ Founding Partners are Cisco, Facebook and Palo Alto Networks. In addition to Dr. Siraj and representatives from the Founding Partners, the WiCyS Board of Governors includes Chair Dr. Janell Straach of UT-Dallas, Treasurer Dr. Costis Toregas of George Washington University, and leaders from Carnegie Mellon University, the Naval Postgraduate School, and Societe Generale. WiCyS helps build a strong cybersecurity workforce with gender equality by facilitating recruitment, retention and advancement for women in the field. WiCyS offers mentoring, training programs, scholarships, virtual and in-person conferences, leadership series, career fairs, webinars, and more to women at all stages of their cybersecurity career journey!