Hacker Halted Security Conference Free for Women through IBM Security Scholarship
ATLANTA, April 18, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today EC-Council announced that IBM Security will once again fund a scholarship program for women to attend EC-Council's Hacker Halted (https://www.hackerhalted.com/registration/) security conference free of charge but this year, and that veterans will also be eligible for the funds. Funded by IBM Security, the scholarship is designed to help address the underrepresentation of women and veterans in cybersecurity and help them further their skills and expertise in this high-demand field. Hacker Halted 2017 and 2018 saw a large increase in female attendees due to the support of IBM Security and the sponsorship fund. In fact, approximately 34% of last year's registrants were women - a huge number for information security conferences. IBM Security and EC-Council hope for similar results for the veteran population.
The cybersecurity industry is facing a talent shortage that is anticipated to reach 1.8 million open and unfilled information security jobs within the next several years. With women representing only 11 percent of the information security workforce1, creating more opportunities for women in security is a critical part of improving the talent pool in the fight against cybercrime. Similar statistics exist for veterans in the industry.
Hacker Halted will take place October 10 & 11 in Atlanta, Georgia and is hosted by EC-Council, creators of the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification. IBM Security has sponsored the Hacker Halted conference and Global Cyberlympics for the past 5 years.
The theme for Hacker Halted 2019 is the "Pirates: Not all Treasure is Gold" and EC-Council hopes to highlight through the conference that ethics include working toward inclusivity in the tech industry. Eric Lopez, EC-Council VP, said "We are so thrilled to have IBM Security's support once again in making sure that Hacker Halted is accessible to as many women and veterans as possible. Removing the barrier of the attendee fee has gone a long way in making our event one of the best as far as attendance by women, as we had a huge response to this initiative last year and we hope to see something similar for veterans - another key area for cybersecurity talent. IBM Security's support is one of the ways we continue to separate Hacker Halted from the rest of the security conferences."
"IBM Security firmly believes in the positive business and cultural impacts of a more diverse cybersecurity workforce," said Heather Ricciuto, Leader of IBM Security's Academic Outreach Programs. "It is for this reason that we are thrilled to continue to provide scholarships for women to attend Hacker Halted free of charge, and to also expand the program by offering scholarships to veterans."
Diane Delaney, Worldwide Talent Manager and Veteran Hiring Focal at IBM Security, added, "We hope that by offering scholarships to conferences like Hacker Halted, IBM Security can play a meaningful role in continuing to inspire women and veterans to join the exciting field of cybersecurity and help businesses prepare today for the cybersecurity threats of tomorrow."
Hacker Halted's agenda last year showcased several prominent women in cyber including Marcelle Lee, Threat Researcher at LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, Inc; Masha Sedova, Co-Founder of Elevate Security; Catherine Ullman, Senior Information Security Analyst at the University of Buffalo; Tyler Cohen Wood, Executive Director, Cyber Risk and Workforce Development at CyberVista; Sharon Smith, Cybersecurity Strategy and Advisory Parter at ITPG Secure Compliance; among others.
Women and veterans who wish to register for Hacker Halted under the IBM Security scholarship should register here
About EC-Council
EC-Council has been the world's leading information security certification body since the launch of their flagship program, Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), which created the ethical hacking industry in 2002. Since the launch of CEH, EC-Council has added industry-leading programs to their portfolio to cover all aspects of information security including EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (CHFI), Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO), among others. EC-Council Foundation, the non-profit branch of EC-Council, created Global CyberLympics, the world's first global hacking competition. EC-Council Foundation also hosts a suite of conferences across the US and around the world including Hacker Halted, Global CISO Forum, TakeDownCon, and CISO Summit.
For more information about EC-Council, please see http://www.eccouncil.org.
SOURCE EC-Council
