The industry duo behind a new cybersecurity mentoring network hope its launch will help fill the cyber skills gap and reverse a trend of women leaving the sector.
Annabel Berry and Danielle Phillips last month joined forces to launch Leading Cyber, a leadership development and mentoring platform designed to connect cyber security leaders.
The platform, which is in beta phase, is in the process of recruiting its first 100 mentors and mentees.
“There are a lot of women leaving the industry”
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, the pair claimed that too many cyber pros – particularly women – are deserting the sector due to poor standards of management.
“CIISec [the Chartered Institute of Information Security] did a survey back in October, and poor, ineffective management was listed for the first time as one of the top reasons why people are leaving the industry,” Berry said.
“I know particularly there are a lot of women leaving the industry, and we’re only 17% women in cybersecurity.
“We work in an industry where skills development and certifications are held highly. We wouldn’t dream of letting somebody loose on a bit of new technology without giving them training.
“But we let people loose on people all the time.”
Leading Cyber has two parts to the business, offering leadership development and coaching alongside its mentoring network.
Both are designed to encourage professionals to stay in a UK cyber sector that currently has 14,000 vacancies, Phillips said.
“It’s about having someone you can tap on the shoulder and ask: ‘how did you deal with this issue? How can I progress my career? How can I deal with this difficult person?’,” she said of the mentoring network.
“That’s something you want to be able to do with someone who’s outside of your workplace.
“And that’s not to forget that most cybersecurity professionals work in very small teams or even by themselves in businesses too.
“Having that platform – that mentoring space – where people can ask questions, be part of conversations, learn, grow, develop and impart their own wisdom, will help people move forward in the sector.”
“Questionable behaviour”
Some mentoring schemes have in the past encountered issues over mentors not turning up for appointments, as well as “questionable behaviour in some mentoring relationships”, Berry claimed.
“I’ve heard horror stories from other women in the industry who have had really bad experiences in mentoring. And that will not be tolerated on this platform by any means,” she said.
“We have a dashboard and can basically see what’s going on. I think that’s a real difference from the other more unstructured mentoring programmes out there.
“If somebody repeatedly doesn’t turn up to an appointment, we’ll have insight into that and be able to say to them ‘if you don’t have the time to give, it’s probably not appropriate for you to be on there right now’.”
“This clearly has legs”
Leading Cyber sees Berry and Phillips effectively combining their current businesses under one banner.
Best known in the channel for heading up cybersecurity VAR Sapphire, Berry has for the last year been running a leadership development and coaching business, while Phillips runs a cybersecurity communications consultancy.
The duo initially met at a Cybersecurity North East event.
“She was a knockout, is how I think I described her,” Berry said, “and we’ve worked in a voluntary way off and on since then.
“Danielle rang me and said ‘shall we join forces and get this going?’ And so it was a really easy ‘yes’.
“We’re in the process right now of establishing this as a formal business,” Phillips added.
Turning to the leadership side of Leading Cyber’s business, Phillips claimed that the only other “stepping stone” for budding cyber leaders that currently exists in the UK is a Cyber Security MBA at Lancaster University.
“That’s great but it’s not within reach of everyone. If you don’t want to do an MBA, come to us,” she said.
“This is something that clearly has traction, has legs, has interest. We’re having really interesting conversations right now and want to propel this forward as quickly as we can, while being mindful that we don’t want to hurt ourselves in doing so.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
