Women in Cyber Wales
Networking and support for women working in the cyber security industry
Our Aims
Our main aim is to connect women with an interest in cyber security with each other
Our members
We welcome members who are working in cyber security, as well as those who are just interested in finding out more. We also have links with the Young Women in Cyber Wales network.
Events
Our events are often held online, and occasionally held in person, usually in the South Wales area. You don't have to be local to join us, as we are working hard to provide dial in options at all in-person events.
Founder
Women in Cyber Wales was founded in 2018 by Clare Johnson. Find out more here.
Links
We are closely linked to Cyber Wales and the other cluster groups based in Wales. We also work closely with UKC3.
Becoming a member
It's completely free to become a member of Women in Cyber Wales. Just send us your name and email address and we'll add you to our mailing list. You don't get spam, just information about forthcoming events and other information we think is useful, such as events by other organisations related to cyber, funding opportunities and competitions.
Next meeting, 20th Mar 24
Our next meeting will be taking place at the Sparc building in Cardiff, with an online option for those who can't make it in person. Kindly supported by the Cyber Innovation Hub, there will be a networking lunch before the main meeting starts at 2pm. To reserve your free place, please visit our Eventbrite page.
Speakers will include Liz Lewis, talking about the Cyber Innovation Hub's newly formed neurodiversity network; Colette King, from ALD Automotive, talking about her role and the important issues of stress and burnout; and Kylie Barnes from Hays Recruitment, outlining the findings of their salaries and consultancy report.
We had an absolute blast at Securing the Future: Women in Cyber 2024, which took place in the stunning ICC Wales, sponsored by the Wales Cyber Innovation Hub and Admiral. Speakers talked about a range of cyber security challenges, and workshops covered authentic leadership, and coaching and mentoring. We had around 150 delegates, who all took part in a short but challenging CTF run by Admiral. In the afternoon, we joined forces with CyberFirst Wales and invited 40 Year 8 girls who made it to the girls competition final to join the last session, followed by a celebration dinner in their honour.
Some pictures will be uploaded shortly!
Festive Mixer, 6th Dec 2023
We joined forces with the Cyber Innovation Hub for our December meeting. Hosted at Tramshed Tech in Cardiff, we linked with women across the Tech sector for a 'Festive Mixer', complete with cheese and wine.
There were some excellent speakers, talking about their work and their experiences as women in tech, and we had some thought provoking discussions afterwards.
Coming Soon...
Our next meeting is scheduled for the afternoon of 20th March 2024. This will be a hybrid meeting, to be held at the Sparc building in Cardiff. Watch this space for further information.
Hybrid meeting, 6th July
Our first hybrid meeting was a great success. We had 26 people attend in person, and another 20 online. The meeting was kindly hosted by the Cyber Innovation Hub, at the Sparc building in Cardiff. We had a keynote from Sophie Kneeshaw, talking about how she moved from an arts teaching career to a software developer at Sky. We also heard from Holly Lidbury about the CyberFirst programme in Wales, Kevin Dainty on the highly successful Reed Women in Technology Mentoring Scheme, and from Dr Elham Hassanain about women in cyber initiatives in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia. We closed the meeting with a skills workshop, led by Dr Yulia Cherdantseva.
CyberUK 2023
We were really excited to get together at the NCSC's CyberUK event in Belfast, in April 2023. The event was opened by Charlotte from the NCSC, and we estimate that around 150 women attended. Yes, we ran out of breakfast and the space was a little snug, but there was a real buzz about the place and feedback has been really positive. Next year we hope to build on this, perhaps by having a speaker and more opportunities to network.
Our last meeting: 22nd Feb 2023
We held an online meeting on 22nd February 2023, 12pm - 1.30pm, with great attendance. We heard from Dr Kiri Addison, Mimecast, and Ellie Dew who is setting up a network for Young Women in Cyber. Clare Bourne from Cynam also talked about her experience on the Empowering Women to Lead Cyber Security programme. If you missed us, keep an eye on our socials for notice of our next meeting.
What a brilliant turnout we had at CyberUK, held in the ICC, Newport, Wales in May 2022. The NCSC kindly agreed to let us run a Women in Cyber networking breakfast on Day 2. Scheduled for an 8am start, on a day that turned out to be dull and rainy, it was amazing to see so many women attending, demonstrating just how important these networking meetings can be. Thanks to everyone who came along. Hopefully we have started a regular feature at future CyberUK conferences!
Picture shows the 65 or so women who came along, plus Clare Johnson (Women in Cyber Wales) & Ciara Mitchell (Scotland IS).
Women in Cyber at CyberUK 2022
Summer Social July 2022
On Tuesday 19th July we met in-person in Tramshed Tech in Cardiff for our summer social. We didn't have a speaker at this event, but used it as an opportunity to have general networking conversations over a soft drink. It was a hot, hot, hot day, so the air conditioning was most welcome!
Our March 22 meeting
It was brilliant to have Deborah Haworth, Chief Information Security Officer, Penguin Random House UK join us at our March meeting. Along with Dhipa Lee, Head of Identity & Access Management (IAM) for Ballina we learned about some of the challenges and highlights of careers in cyber security.
Our November 21 meeting
We were delighted to be joined by Sema Yuce, Director of Truth, ISC and Bridget Kenyon, Chief Information Security Officer, EMEA, and Information Security Programmes Leader at Thales Digital Identity and Security for our last meeting of 2021. Sadly Deborah couldn't make it and will speak at a future meeting. We had some fascinating discussions including pathways into the industry as well as hearing about the roles that Sema and Bridget have.
Our October 21 meeting
Our October meeting took place on Thursday 7th October, 3.30pm - 5pm. We had a fantastic line up of women working in the cyber security industry including Lorraine Dryland, Global CISO of First Sentier Investors, Anna-Lisa Miller, CISO of Spectris, Dr Hoda Alkhzaimi, Director of the Centre of Cyber Security, New York University in Abu Dhabi, and Chani Simms, MD of Meta Defence Labs and founder of She/He CISO.
Girls in Cyber
In April 2021, we hosted a special event linking some of our members to a recently formed Girls in Cyber network. Members shared information on their journeys into cyber, and some of the challenges and opportunities their work has given them.
CONTACT US
We’d love to add you to our mailing list. Let us know in the message box why you'd like to join us so we know you're not a bot!
Meet Clare Johnson
“I set up Women in Cyber Wales because of a clear lack of visibility of women working in the cyber security sector. During my career I have had the opportunity to engage with a wide variety of cyber security networks and events, and whilst diversity is improving there is still a long way to go. Since the first meeting in 2018 we have grown the network to almost 250 individuals, and our reach goes well beyond Wales.
The network aims to provide a welcoming space for women to connect with other women and allies, to celebrate our achievements and discuss our challenges. We also provide support for organisations who wish to improve the number of women working for them. I will always speak up for diversity in this sector, as it's a career that offers many wonderful opportunities, and there are very clear benefits to organisations that have a diverse workforce".
Clare Johnson, Founder and Director of Women in Cyber Wales
Our connections
