Women eye cybersecurity as top tech career

In spite of these attacks, there remains a shortage of cybersecurity workers. A 2024 ‘Cybersecurity Workforce Study’ revealed that 67% of respondents said “that their organisation has a shortage of cybersecurity staff needed to prevent and troubleshoot security issues.”

Women Go Tech recently released a new study highlighting the challenges women in Central and Eastern Europe face during their career progression in the tech industry. The study also surveyed women about which tech sector jobs were most appealing.  

Respondents revealed that cybersecurity is now third most appealing sector in tech for novice woman professionals. These woman are just entering the workforce and are early-career specialists.

Žydrūnė Vitaitė, Co-Founder of Women Go Tech, explained why there is a hiring shortage in cybersecurity, despite rising interest in this sector among females.

“Cybersecurity isn’t just one job, It comprises a multitude of roles, including ethical hacking, analytics, software development, consulting, and others. Such a profession merits a diverse workforce, which would not only fit within the cybersecurity scope but could help improve it,” she said. “Unfortunately, that isn’t the case yet, as men currently dominate the cybersecurity sector, whether due to gender bias, educational and training barriers, or even the unconscious use of metaphors within the industry –masculine-coded terms such as hero, or protector.”

With these barriers to entry, cybersecurity is an elusive yet intriguing choice for the female tech workers interviewed for the study. In fact, their next two preferences were quality assurance and data science & analytics, which are more traditional tech industry roles.  

This makes the interest in cybersecurity among entry-level females especially compelling: it’s a rising sub-sector with many roles that didn’t even exist 20 years ago. It could also be a result of rising geopolitical tension within the CEE region, the study notes.

Given cybersecurity’s rapid ascendance and evolution, study reports that it’s important that hiring managers not look for quick personnel fixes, but that they train and upskill local talent. One important takeaway is that companies can reach greater long-term benefits by investing in training programs to prepare women for these high demand roles rather than seeking ready-made experts.

“When considering how to overcome the shortage of professionals, cybersecurity businesses should start thinking in two ways,” said Vitaitė. “First of all, equal treatment is a must. Gender bias is still widely visible and has to disappear. Many companies might have to change internal processes to achieve that.”  

But it’s not just about recruiting females into entry-level roles. Study results highlight that companies will have to make it worthwhile for women to maintain their cybersecurity careers by investing in further training and upskilling.

As Vitaitė explained: “Another important aspect is retaining experienced women in the field. Cybersecurity is not as appealing among that demo, and it is possibly due to the fact that more experienced women have already been affected by the microenvironment of working around cybersecurity teams.”

According to the study, the least appealing fields among women in tech were back-end development, front-end development, and coming in last, UX/UI (user experience and user interface).

However, demand for developers in 2025 is down 35%, a five-year low–due in part to higher interest rates affecting startups and venture capital, and also to more efficient AI coding. In a recent survey, 75% of engineers also reported the use of AI coding tools.

Interpol reports that a cybercrime occurs every 39 seconds, and Microsoft alone claims its customers face 600 million cyberattacks per day. And attacks are on the rise: the second quarter of 2024 alone saw a 30% increase in cybercrime, costing $18 million per day.

“Creating safe environment for women in tech jobs is crucial–not only for equality, but also for safer future, for all of us,” Vitaitė concluded.