By Cybersecurity Council of Arizona
Advancing Arizona since 2016
Beginning as the idea called “Project Athena” and then forming the Meetup Advancing Arizona Athenas, the recently formalized Cybersecurity Council of Arizona (CCofAZ) is a women-led organization driven to build an inclusive InfoSec community of professionals. We are an active, working board of professionals advised by some of the Valley’s most senior cybersecurity professionals.
Cybersecurity Council of Arizona is on a mission to empower the local community by integrating a diverse population into the cybersecurity workforce through education, training, and opportunities to create dynamic and talented InfoSec professionals.
Our board has identified 4 projects to serve our community:
- Partner with employers to build road maps to employment to facilitate the creation of more talented professionals.
- Up-skilling Curriculum – specific to Arizona employers.
- Up-skilling Center – a tech lab focused on cybersecurity.
- Certification Study Groups & Sponsorships.
Why Cybersecurity? & Why Diversity?
The cybersecurity field is in high demand. In a 2016 survey, CSX ISACA predicted a global shortage of 2 Million cybersecurity professionals by 2019. In today’s talent landscape, Arizona has a higher demand for talent than the national average according to CyberSeek.org.
With such high demand in a short timeline, our current workforce training solutions are not able to keep up with the increasing need for skilled workers. Even more so, employers need talent that is ready to work with hands-on, real-world training and they need this talent in months rather than years. Additionally, there are far too many jobs currently going unfilled for this to be solved by only a portion of the population.
If we seek, as a nation, to be the best in the world for cybersecurity then it is imperative that we seek out the best talent regardless of individual identity. Plus diverse identities benefit companies’ bottom lines, as discovered in several studies by McKinsey and other research firms. Diversity of thought is imperative in cybersecurity. Defense must cover all vulnerabilities while offense only needs to make one shot. A strong team will consider defense from a wide variety of perspectives.
You are invited to the Launch Party!
CCofAZ will present updates on our current partnerships focused on: certification study groups, cybersecurity training facilities, employer driven road maps to employment and curriculum development. Learn more at ccofaz.org and attend the evening of Monday October 29th.
All attendees will have a chance to win a tech door prize! This event is open to everyone interested in improving our InfoSec community, their own InfoSec skills, or both.
Monday, Oct 29th of 2018
5:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Choice Hotels International
6811 East Mayo Boulevard #100
Phoenix, AZ 85054
Light refreshments and appetizers will be served. Invite a friend or colleague!