Who is Katie Moussouris?
According to BigThink, Katie didn't seek what most girls her age did for fun. Instead, she had a curious mind and an interest in programming since very young. She grew up to be a hacker and found her own Cybersecurity company as an adult, called Luta Security. Forbes tells us that Katie helped the U.S. Department of Defense build their first bug bounty program (which is a program that pays hackers to find vulnerabilities on its website). It is also said that she oversaw Microsoft's Vulnerability Research department. Now, with her own company, Katie tries to advise other organizations on best practices and help them develop their own bug bounty programs. If you wish to keep up with her work, Katie can be found on Twitter.
Who was Kelly Lum?
This week, unfortunately, the world has said goodbye to Kelly Lum, a 41-year-old influential woman in Cybersecurity. According to OxGaps, Kelly (aka Aloria on social media) was a Senior Security Engineer who worked at Tumblr. She participated in well-known Cybersecurity conferences, such as SummerCon, and usually talked about reverse engineering (understanding how software or hardware works without having direct access to information about it; it's often used to better understand malware). Although Kelly has passed away, her content will still be alive and used as inspiration for many generations to come. If you wish to know more about her, she had a Twitter account where she was active until the end of 2022.
So, what is your takeaway from these brief biographies? I invite you today to celebrate these women and many more who are fighting for recognition in a male-dominated field! You may be like Katie and have always had an affinity for Tech. You could be like Kelly one day and speak to millions about topics that you love. You don't even have to be like any of these women to be honest, but I am certain you're still special in your own way! Therefore, let the world see your spark. I didn't have any previous professional IT experience when I enrolled in a Cybersecurity degree but am definitely learning little by little and building on the knowledge I have acquired the previous day. If I can do it, you can as well!
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