CLEVELAND, Feb. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is organizing its 9th Annual WiCyS Conference at Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland between March 17 and 19. Regardless of gender, WiCyS is the only cybersecurity conference with an equal ratio of students and professionals (including teachers and mentors). This year's conference theme is Being Smart about Security and Privacy of All "Smart" Things. Under this theme, conference participants will discuss privacy and security concerns associated with smart technologies and cyberspace.

Through this conference, WiCyS attempts to formulate methodologies that can be used to prevent the misuse of technology and, thus, move towards a safer, smarter, and more connected online world. Around 1500 participants are expected to attend. City of Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb. will welcome attendees to Cleveland and the conference at the start of Friday morning's keynote session. In addition, several industry leaders will be giving keynote addresses at the conference, including Jen Easterly, the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; Allison Miller, the Chief Information Security Officer at Optum; Latanya Sweeney, Professor at Harvard University; and Anna Squicciarini, Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University (PSU). The conference will be chaired by Dr. Janell Straach, WiCyS chair of the board and faculty at Rice University.

There will be several events at the conference, each catering to different participants. These events include:

1. Technical workshops and presentations to address the innovations, research and develoment of projects in cybersecurity
2. Lightning talks that will provide fresh perspectives and emerging trends
3. Panel discussions to discuss current topics of relevance
4. Birds of a Feather (BoaF) in which informal discussions on topics related to cybersecurity will be held
5. Student poster competition in which students will showcase their creative cybersecurity talent
6. The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University is also hosting the Capture the Flag (CTF) competition, a cybersecurity competition
7. Career village for students to receive career advice, mock interviews, resume reviews, and more

The event is open to anyone interested in the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in cybersecurity. Registration opened on February 7th at 10 AM CT. Sponsorship opportunities are still available.

About WiCyS: WiCyS is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Dr. Ambareen Siraj at Tennessee Tech University through a National Science Foundation grant. It is dedicated to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in cybersecurity.

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SOURCE Women in Cybersecurity