Webinar – Celebrating and championing women in cybersecurity

Name: Get Safe Online
Address: United Kingdom

Watch the recording

March 8^th 2024 is International Women’s Day (IWD 2024), which Get Safe Online plans to mark by organising and hosting a global keynote webinar to celebrate and champion women working in cybersecurity.

The hour-long event will showcase women who are making a difference in what has traditionally been a male-dominated sector, by recounting their stories. Our panellists will reflect on the case studies – explaining why they find them inspirational – and explore what further work needs to be done to enable and encourage more women to follow their example with careers in cybersecurity … itself an industry notorious for a global skills shortage.

The event will represent a key element of our work in helping communities and businesses around the world to use the internet with safety and confidence. Supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, it will very closely reflect the theme of IWD 2024: ‘Inspire Inclusion’.

It will be followed closely by the publication of a white paper which includes the case studies, commentary and opinions.

Your Moderator

Nicola Ann Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Cotes, PC is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities from 2014 to 2016 and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2019 to 2020. She was the first woman to chair the Treasury Select Committee.

Your Panellists

Eleanor Rees, United Kingdom

Acting Head of Cyber Policy and Head of Cyber Governance (designate), Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, United Kingdom

Having graduated in International Relations, History, Law and European Politics, Eleanor began her career in a tech start-up before joining the Civil Service Fast Stream graduate programme. She has enjoyed promotion to various government roles, some of which have involved overseas deployments and in which strong themes have been security, conflict and rule of law.

Sametria McKinney, Bahamas

Director, National Computer Incident Response Team

Sametria has degrees in Computer Science and Global Business from universities in the USA and holds numerous top certifications in information security and risk management. She held various posts in the petrochemicals and banking sectors prior to joining the CIRT. She was the first woman in The Bahamas to establish the cybersecurity programs at the Central Bank of The Bahamas and the National CIRT of The Bahamas.

Natacha Umutoni, Rwanda

Communications Specialist, Cenfri and Board Member, Women at Web

Natacha has been involved in digital transformation and communication for over 10 years, first in the private sector and latterly in development. Over the past five years, her focus has also been on promoting women’s digital inclusion and advocating for their digital rights. She is a board member of Women at Web, a non-profit with a vision of creating a safe and welcoming space for women and marginalised communities and empowering women with digital skills and literacy.

Muriana McPherson, Guyana

Director, Cybersecurity, National Data Management Authority

Muriana has over eight years’ experience in providing leadership of the NDMA’s cybersecurity programme. She previously spent 12 years providing technical and managerial leadership of the Bank of Guyana’s IT infrastructure and prior to that, was a Lecturer at the International University in Georgetown, Guyana. She still serves as a part-time Lecturer at the University of Guyana, teaching information assurance and security as well as ethical issues and professional practice.

Sarah Sawrey-Cookson, United Kingdom

Communications Director, Get Safe Online

Sarah is a communications and media relations professional who has worked with a diverse range of organisations including multinational FMCG brands, tech start-ups and charities. Within Get Safe Online, she is responsible for developing and implementing communication strategies, media relations, liaison with partners in the UK and abroad and campaign development with the content team. She also actively participates as a mentor in the UK-Gulf Women in Cybersecurity Fellowship.

Shaden Alnasser, Saudi Arabia

Fellow, UK-Gulf Women in Cybersecurity Fellowship

A Fellow in the UK Government-backed UK-Gulf Women in Cybersecurity Fellowship and part of this year’s awareness group, Shaden is instrumental in working with the team of other women to create initiatives to promote online safety across the Gulf region. A Certified Project Management Professional with a Batchelor’s degree in computer information systems and an MSc in Software Engineering, she has extensive experience in software development, quality assurance and product management.