“We’re at a rare inflection point where the skills map of cybersecurity is being redrawn by AI, and redrawn maps mean new territory nobody owns yet,” Tiffany Shogren, Senior Director, Services Enablement & Education at Optiv, told Security magazine.
AI has shaken up defenders and attackers
Security magazine framed International Women in Cyber Day, observed on September 1, as a moment to assess how artificial intelligence is reshaping cybersecurity. The reporting states plainly that “AI has shaken up the world of cybersecurity, whether on the side of the defenders or the attackers.” That shake-up creates new role definitions and alters how teams approach threats and protection.
Tiffany Shogren on reskilling and curriculum design
Shogren argued that the disruption is not only technical but educational. “We’re at a rare inflection point where the skills map of cybersecurity is being redrawn by AI, and redrawn maps mean new territory nobody owns yet. Women in cyber shouldn’t just adapt to the agentic era, we should be the ones designing how the workforce gets there. I spend my days reskilling security professionals for roles that didn’t exist two years ago, and I want more women writing that curriculum, not just taking it.”
Her remarks tie two threads together: the emergence of roles created by AI-driven change, and the opportunity for women to influence what training and career pathways look like in those new roles. Shogren frames curriculum creation as a lever for shaping who benefits from the next wave of workforce demand.
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See what we buildNidhi Aggarwal on accessibility, career paths, and product leadership
Nidhi Aggarwal, Chief Product Officer at HackerOne, emphasized the signal that International Women in Cyber Day sends: making cybersecurity feel accessible to people who do not see themselves reflected in the field. “International Women in Cyber Day is an opportunity to make cybersecurity feel more accessible to women who may not see themselves reflected in the traditional image of the field,” she said, adding that cybersecurity needs people “who can understand complex problems, challenge assumptions and build technology that can stand up to real-world threats.”
Aggarwal also noted that AI-driven change means the “playbooks are still being written,” giving those entering the field now a substantive chance to influence future norms. She described her own background: “My background is in AI and data and cybersecurity is a new domain for me but the same first principles oriented problem solving skills, systems thinking and data driven decision making have helped me in cybersecurity.”
She underscored that there is “room for product leaders, engineers, researchers and people who bring experience from entirely different parts of technology and beyond,” expanding the mental model of who can find a place in cybersecurity beyond traditional pathways.
Diversity as a multiplier for defensive resilience
The Security magazine piece links diversity to defensive quality: a more diverse cybersecurity workforce produces “more nuanced perspectives of protectors — leading to more adaptable and resilient defensive landscape.” Aggarwal connected visibility and ownership to leadership development: “When women have meaningful ownership to make their expertise visible, that builds confidence, develops deeper technical and business judgment and ultimately sets up future leaders to shape the industry.”
Both speakers portray diversity not as a box to check but as a practical advantage: different backgrounds and modes of thought can influence how AI-enabled tools are designed, deployed, and defended against adversaries.
What this means for technologists, product leaders, and security teams
- Technologists and security teams: The skills map is changing; teams will need people who can apply first-principles problem solving and systems thinking in AI-augmented workflows, and those people may come from nontraditional backgrounds in AI and data, as Aggarwal described.
- Product leaders and researchers: With “playbooks… still being written,” product leaders have an opening to shape tooling, training, and standards—an opportunity Shogren urged women to seize by writing curriculum and designing roles that reflect emerging needs.
- Hiring and talent development leaders: Reskilling is an active process: Shogren said she spends her days reskilling professionals for roles “that didn’t exist two years ago,” signaling that workforce development programs must evolve quickly to match new role definitions.
International Women in Cyber Day, the article implies, is not only a day of recognition but a strategic moment: AI is changing the map, and who draws the new map will shape which skills, perspectives and leaders define cybersecurity’s next era. The central questions left on the table are concrete: who will be granted ownership of curriculum and role design, and will women who enter now be given the meaningful ownership Aggarwal describes to make their expertise visible and set up future leadership?
