BETHESDA, Md., March 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of International Women's Day and to salute women in cybersecurity, SANS Institute (SANS), the global leader in cyber security training and certifications, will host an international livestream event tomorrow at 11am EST (4pm GMT). "Women Lifting Women" will feature an amazing panel of leading female experts as they share their stories, challenges, and successes in cybersecurity to #BreaktheBias.

The livestream event will be moderated by SANS Institute's Phishing and Security Awareness Subject Matter Expert Cheryl Conley, and will feature the following speakers:

• Jaya Baloo, CISO of Avast
• Rachel Barnes, Technical Account Manager at Qualys
• Talya C Parker, Engineer Privacy, Safety and Security at Google and Founder & Executive Director of Black Girls in Cyber
• Janet Roberts, SVP Global Head of Security Education and Awareness at Zurich Insurance Company Ltd.

SANS also announces that applications are now open for the 2022 SANS Women's Immersion Academy in its 10th year. The SANS Women's Immersion Academy is a scholarship-based program for women who have a passion and aptitude for cybersecurity, providing an opportunity to break into the cybersecurity workforce through a fast-track, intensive training program built around SANS courses and GIAC certifications

"With the SANS Women's Immersion Academy, SANS Institute is pleased to host a program designed to not only bridge the gap between the supply and demand of technically skilled cybersecurity practitioners, but also close the gender gap in the industry," said Beth Corcoran, Workforce Programs Manager, SANS Cyber Immersion Academies. "We are delighted to continue our traditions of providing educational opportunities for women aspiring to join the cyber workforce and of celebrating the changemakers in the industry."

The SANS Women's Immersion Academy currently has 150 alumnae, with a success rate of 90 percent of students securing a job in the cybersecurity industry. Within the first six months of completing the program, graduates have earned an average annual salary of $90,000.

Change in the industry is happening; research from Frost and Sullivan in 2013 observed that women made up 11 percent of the global cybersecurity workforce, and then just eight years later, that number more than doubled to 24 percent, according to 2021 Research from the Aspen Institute. By working hard to increase the number of women in the field, the industry is evolving and making major progress. SANS is gratified to be a driver of that change with the SANS Women's Immersion Academy.

To register for the "Women Lifting Women" live stream on Tuesday, March 8 at 11am EST, click here.

To learn more about the SANS Women's Immersion Academy, click here.

About SANS Institute
The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. Today, SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cybersecurity training and certification to professionals in government and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach more than 60 courses at in-person and virtual cybersecurity events and on demand. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates practitioner skills through more than 35 hands-on, technical certifications in cybersecurity. The SANS Technology Institute, a regionally accredited independent subsidiary, offers master's and bachelor's degrees, graduate certificates, and an undergraduate certificate in cybersecurity. SANS Security Awareness, a division of SANS, provides organizations with a complete and comprehensive security awareness solution, enabling them to manage their "human" cybersecurity risk easily and effectively. SANS also delivers a wide variety of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, webcasts, podcasts, and newsletters; it also operates the Internet's early warning system–the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to support and educate the global information security community. www.sans.org

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SOURCE SANS Institute