From leading universities, businesses and advocacy groups, here are some inspiring women in cybersecurity.
With much of our lives and livelihoods compressed into data readily accessible via the cloud, it’s no surprise that cybersecurity is fast-becoming even more important than once thought possible.
SiliconRepublic.com covers cybersecurity-related stories on the daily, and in doing so, learn a lot about the women leading the industry right from Ireland.
Here are a few of the leaders you should know about.
Anca Delia Jurcut
Dr Jurcut is recognised as one of the world’s top 2pc of scientists by Stanford University. She is a tenured assistant professor of computer science at University College Dublin (UCD).
She has a PhD from the University of Limerick where she worked in data security and formal verification as a postdoctoral researcher. At the time she was also a software engineer at IBM Analytics in Dublin.
Presently, she is the head of the Data, Networks and Security Research Labs in Dublin and works as an expert evaluator for the European Commission, providing assessments of research proposals and ongoing projects related to cybersecurity, cryptography and emerging technologies, as well as quantum-resistant infrastructure.
Hazel Murray
Dr Murray is the chair of cybersecurity at Munster Technological University. She holds a PhD in mathematics from the university.
Murray is a cybersecurity researcher with research interests in password security and authentication, quantum cryptography and computing, cyber risk assessments, cybersecurity education and computational methods in cybersecurity.
She took part in the €65m National Challenge Fund with her project ‘Cyber Resilience – Digital resilience for SMEs’, which aims to support small businesses when it comes to cybercrime.
Blessing Usoro
Usoro is the vice-president of Women4Cyber Ireland, a gender-inclusivity advocacy group for the cybersecurity sector in Ireland. She works as an information and security engineering principal at MasterCard.
She was previously a board member at the Ireland chapter of ISACA, a professional body for information security, governance risk and compliance professionals. She also served as information and security advisor at the Dublin Business School, contributing to college’s ICT curriculum.
She was a founding member of Cyber For Schoolgirls, an organisation dedicated to eliminating the gender gap in cybersecurity by encouraging schoolgirls to study cybersecurity at third level.
Louise O’Hagan
Dr O’Hagan is the Dublin chapter lead for Cyber Ireland, as well as a member of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity’s working group for raising awareness on cyber hygiene. She is also a founding member of Cyber Awareness Ireland.
She works as the cybersecurity governance programme manager at Workday where she shapes and implements the company’s cybersecurity programmes and procedures to improve its security posture.
O’Hagan has a PhD in the human element of cybersecurity from Queen’s University Belfast. She previously spoke to SiliconRepublic.com about tech-facilitated abuse.
Jennifer Cox
Cox describes herself as a business solutions leader with a cybersecurity background. She is director of solutions engineering at Tines – an Irish no-code automation unicorn.
Cox is a renowned advocate for diversity in tech, having been listed as a finalist for several awards, including the Women in Tech Europe, Cyberwoman of the World Global Awards and The Stevie Awards for Women in Business.
Cox has also frequently spoken and written about the importance of having more women working in the cybersecurity industry.
Illana Smith
Smith is Microsoft’s security product lead who featured in SiliconRepublic.com’s Career Close-up series.
Smith is a leader in Microsoft’s security division, which is responsible not only for keeping Microsoft and its customers safe, but also building products that help its customers keep themselves secure.
“Cyberattacks are growing in speed and scale and sophistication, so it really is an incredible responsibility,” Smith told SiliconRepublic.com.
She started off at Microsoft as a technical specialist intern in 2000 right after her bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Queensland University of Technology.
Jan Carroll
In 2022, Carroll founded Fortify Institute, a Meath-based organisation that provides training in cybersecurity, incident handling and response, cloud security and information security and ethical hacking. She is a lecturer at UCD Professional Academy.
Last year, she was named on a list of the ‘Most Inspiring Women in Cyber’. Speaking to SiliconRepublic.com in 2021 about the then recent HSE attacks, Carroll said: “One positive result of the HSE attack is that it has made everyone take cybersecurity seriously.
“We should see this as an opportunity to take advantage of having everyone’s attention and launch a national cyber awareness campaign.”
Maria Grazia Porcedda
Porcedda is a specialist in cybersecurity and law. As a tenured associate professor of information technology law at Trinity College Dublin, she conducts research and lectures on the relationship between law and information technology.
Her PhD focused on cybersecurity and privacy rights in EU law. Her current research focuses on cybersecurity, cybercrime, data protection, privacy and surveillance in EU law.
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