A Journey to Gender Parity: Q&A with Erin Verna on the Importance of Diversity in Cybersecurity

For my second interview, I sat down with Erin Verna, principal product marketing manager at F5, who focuses on access control and authorization. 

Erin’s been in the app security space for nearly eight years and in tech for more than 15. Away from work, she’s outdoors with her pup, Stella, running the mountain trails. Her passion for music has kept her playing with community symphonies over the years, and Erin’s love of exploring new countries keeps her traveling with some outdoor adventure, amazing street art, or delicious cuisine at the heart of each trip.

Rachael: All my family and friends knew what career path they wanted to follow from the get-go, but I was the opposite. How’d you begin your career in cybersecurity? What drew you in?

Erin: I fell into tech, really. But I made a concerted effort to focus on cybersecurity once I’d been in the field for some time. It’s an endlessly fascinating space.  I studied journalism in college with the hope that I’d always be learning and writing about new, interesting topics. When I graduated, my first job offer was with a small software company writing copy. Through a series of job opportunities, I ended up writing about cloud computing and eventually specialized in security messaging and positioning at larger tech companies. There’s a lot at stake when it comes to securing apps, and it’s great to be part of an industry where you can help drive better outcomes for people. Plus, the security community is a fascinating group of people in and of itself.

Rachael: So true, and in many ways. CISA recently announced a partnership with Women in CyberSecurity to bridge the gender gap in cybersecurity, and they’ve set a goal to achieve 50% women and underrepresented minorities in the field within the next seven years. What’s it been like for you to be a woman in cybersecurity?

Erin: I’d be lying if I said there haven't been challenges. Where I sit today, compared to when I started over a decade ago, I’ve seen a lot of improvement. I see more women leaders. And there’s also greater emphasis on diversity and inclusion. I’d say we’re striving to head in a better direction when it comes to equity. But of course, there’s room for improvement. I recently read an article from The Register called, Where are the women in cyber security? On the dark side, study suggests. It highlighted a study claiming at least 30%, and likely more, of cybercriminal forum users are women—suggesting the black hat world may be more “meritocratic,” as they put it in the article.

Rachael: Fascinating, and it definitely sheds a different light on women and security. Why do you think diversity, especially equity for women, is so important to the industry?

Erin: One of the things I love most about the tech space is that it takes all kinds of backgrounds to innovate. Some may have an engineering background, or some may have a writing background, like me. Others may have served in the military before working in security. The avenues to cybersecurity are many. This diversity of life experience, it’s all so valuable.

We need these varying perspectives because tech has such far-reaching implications for users and our community at large. It can’t be just one frame of reference. How can you successfully address problems or improve circumstances for large, diverse populations unless the solutions are developed from an equally diverse perspective?