In Australia, women are only 17 percent of the cybersecurity workforce.
The gender gap in numbers and consequences
That single statistic masks a cascade of operational and societal vulnerabilities. The source describes the under‑representation as a "long‑standing imbalance" that has “created a critical gap in digital protection.” Women are also disproportionately affected by online harms: reporting by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found women were more likely to report feeling unsafe online, received more phishing messages by text or email, and were more likely to be targeted for identity theft. Nearly half of the women surveyed said their social media accounts had been hacked at some point, compared with 37 percent of men.
AI-driven threats: deepfakes, LLMs, and faster scams
Attackers are accelerating the use of artificial intelligence. The source warns that "in 2026, AI‑enabled attackers are expected to move faster and create more convincing material," and that cybercriminals are increasingly deploying deepfakes as part of their scams. The article cites two prominent tactics: creating deepfake images used as blackmail material, and using deepfake tools to produce fake voices and videos of colleagues to request payments or confidential information. The piece also highlights that 90 to 95 percent of all online deepfakes are non‑consensual pornographic images, and that around 90 percent of these deepfakes depict women.
Why women’s perspectives change defensive posture
The argument for diversifying teams is practical rather than symbolic. Cybersecurity, the source explains, "involves complex problem solving, which benefits from differing perspectives," and it also "demands an understanding of the psychology behind perpetrators." When teams are composed of people with similar backgrounds and experiences, they are more likely to have blind spots; diverse cognitive styles and lived experience broaden the questions security teams ask and the scenarios they foresee. In particular, because women experience certain scams and online harms at higher rates, their inclusion at decision points can reveal attack vectors and victim pathways that homogeneous teams may overlook.
Barriers to entry and retention: RMIT’s December 2024 findings
A December 2024 study from RMIT University is cited as identifying retention problems rooted in workplace design and culture. The study found that most women were leaving cybersecurity in part because of its 24/7 culture: job design and work commitments can make a career in the field unattainable for people with parental or domestic responsibilities, most of whom are women. Women in the study also "felt there were still gender‑based barriers to entry and career advancement," pointing to a need for structural change such as adequate maternity leave, access to healthcare, and policies that facilitate work‑life balance. The source recommends promoting early education to interest young women in cybersecurity and setting up mentorship programs that place female practitioners on paths to growth.
What this means for technologists, policymakers, and end users
- Technologists and security teams: Expect attacks that leverage large language models and deepfake tools to increase speed and believability; teams with more diverse perspectives will be better placed to anticipate scams that exploit social and psychological vectors.
- Policymakers and regulators: International law enforcement is "struggling to keep pace" with AI‑driven attacks — legislative and regulatory approaches that encourage workforce diversity and support retention (maternity leave, healthcare, flexible work) are presented as part of the mitigation strategy.
- End users and enterprises: Because "ultimately, these nefarious actors want two things: information and money," organisations and individuals should recognise that women are often targeted in different ways and that defensive planning must reflect those patterns.
Diversity in cybersecurity, the source concludes, is not merely a social objective but a strategic advantage: "We need people from all walks of life to thwart attackers, and we certainly need more women." The combination of a small female workforce, higher rates of victimisation among women, and rapidly evolving AI tools creates a narrow window for change. If recruitment, retention and workplace design do not shift to close the gap, defenders risk building resilience on incomplete perspectives while adversaries sharpen tools that exploit those very blind spots.
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/women-in-cybersecurity-are-crucial-in-the-ai-era/
