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Woman4Cyber wins major cyber security award
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Woman4Cyber wins major cyber security award

The 2019 Cyber Security Nordic Award has been granted to the Woman4Cyber initiative of the European Cyber Security Organisation (ESCO). The initiative aims to increase awareness and attractiveness of the cyber security industry also among women. The Finnish Fair Foundation, F-Secure, Insta Defsec and The Finnish Electrical Safety Board  STEK all contributed to the EUR 25,000 prize. The award was presented at the Cyber Security Nordic event on 2 October 2019 at Messukeskus.

In January 2019, the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO) launched a new initiative, Women4Cyber, which focuses on increasing the cyber security expertise of female leaders and experts and building their professional networks through concrete actions. It is estimated that by 2022, 350,000 new cyber experts will be needed in Europe and 1.8 million globally. Europe must be able to respond to the increasingly tough competition for the best professionals in the field. Behind the initiative is a group of influential women from public administration and the business world.  The patron of the initiative is Mariya Gabriel, Member of the European Commission responsible for digital economy and society. Although the initiative highlights women, many of the actions target everyone and broadly increase cyber awareness.

Leaders and experts are needed in a wide range of sectors in society, including in public administration, companies as well as organisations, to meet the ever greater and more complex challenges of cyber security. Women are interested in cyber security, but there is still much to be done to make the industry a more attractive career option for women.

The Cyber Security Nordic Award is one of the first to support this Woman4Cyber initiative with EUR 25,000. It is natural to present an award that supports women’s networking and encourages them to make a career in technological fields in connection with the Cyber Security Nordic event organised in Finland.

International networking is important

The Cyber Security Nordic 2019 jury received a number of excellent nominees. The most important criteria in selecting the winner were increasing the visibility and significance of cyber security, international influence, promoting cyber expertise globally, and impact. The jury considered international networking very important for the promotion and dissemination of cyber security information. At present, there are relatively few women in technological fields, and the jury hopes for this to change.  The award was specifically targeted at the networking of Finnish and Nordic women in the cyber sector.

The winner was selected by a jury consisting of Marko Hautakangas, Vice President, Cyber Security at Insta Defsec, Timo Kekkonen, Managing Director of The Finnish Electrical Safety Board  STEK, Juha Remes, Executive Director of the Finnish Information Security Cluster, Anni Vepsäläinen, Managing Director of Messukeskus, Marjaana Virkkala, Director at F-Secure, and Tua Huomo, Executive Vice President at VTT. The award was funded by the Finnish Fair Foundation, F-Secure, Insta Defsec and The Finnish Electrical Safety Board STEK ry.

Further information:
Teija Armanto, Communications Officer, Messukeskus, tel. +358 50 376 0804, teija.armanto@messukeskus.com
Juha Remes, Executive Director of the Finnish Information Security Cluster, tel +358 40 483 5550, juha.remes@cyberlab.fi

https://cybersecuritynordic.com, #cybersecuritynordic2019

Photos of the award winner and award ceremony will be available from Messukeskus’s media bank at http://mediabank.messukeskus.com 

Cyber Security Nordic will present the latest cyber security solutions to CEOs, decision-makers, experts and international visitors at Messukeskus Helsinki on 2–3 October 2019.

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