Chicago, IL, March 22-24: Security and Privacy in Informatics, Computing, and Engineering (SPICE) sponsored the Women in Cybersecurity (WiCys) 2018 conference. Additionally, a group of SPICE student researchers went to represent our school in the poster presentations and experience the myriad of speakers, community, and workshops at the event. One of our attendees was Olivia Kenny, a Bloomington High School student who has been working as a research assistant with our program for the past year. What follows is a writeup of her experience attending the conference and why we so strongly support both WiCys in its conference and the women researchers in our program.
My Experience at WiCys 2018
by Olivia Kenny, Bloomington North High School
WiCyS 2018 was hosted in Chicago. Being among the six people, five of them women, who traveled to Chicago for this event was a wonderful experience. When we finally arrived at the beautiful Hilton on Madison Ave you could tell that the organizers worked hard to make this an inviting experience. Sanchari Das and I felt welcome even on that first night, when we had to set up for the poster session.
The following morning was the poster session where we had the pleasure of meeting many people who were interested in our work. I drew a lot of attention as I was holding the Fisher-Price Smart Toy Bear. To have the experience of not only doing research as a high school student, but then getting to present it to others was an amazing opportunity that I will not soon forget. Many people were engaged with what I had to say and surprised to discover that I was still in high school. The opportunity to make others aware of this security risk was astounding. At the end of the poster session, I was having amazing conversations with people that I was reluctant to leave. I wish I could have had more time before I needed to go to the workshops.
I had soon forgotten about that when I was meet with amazing talks by wonderful women in the industry. This Workshop wasn’t the only time that I was engaged in what I was learning.
Breakfast that morning I was able to listen to the keynote speaker, Sherrill Nicely who is the Chief Information Security Officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. She told us about her struggles in the industry. She not only talked about the barriers she had to go through but also about the drive she needed to get to where she is today.
That night we had dinner in a beautiful ballroom where we had an informative panel about male allies and why we as women need them in this field and how to utilize them. We all of course know that there are men who accept us and will treat us as an equal. What was suggested that we find men who actively want us to succeed and to make a close connection with that person. This was not a suggestion to be dependent on a man but a suggestion to utilize him as an important resource. Find the people who will lift you up.
I was surrounded by amazing women in CyberSecurity and they were all here for one reason and that was to lift up one another and to motivate those of us who are younger to continue to strive. This may have been a conference for women but we were not alone. About 10% of the population were men and they were there to cheer us on. I think what is a major hope for the organizers next year is that more men come and participate. The only way for us to have men on our side and to know how to do that is if they get a chance to hear our voices. To have found a wonderful community like this was amazing. It makes me excited to see the future of CyberSecurity.
I hope to see that WiCyS 2019, in Philadelphia, will not only have this sisterly support but also the support from our brothers in Cyber Security. Only once we have hurdled this unfortunate disconnect, will women feel fully accepted into CyberSecurity.
Olivia’s work on IoT toy security has come a long way since she joined our group as a summer intern. This year her work won the “Best Poster” award at the 2018 IEEE IoTDI conference. Olivia has been accepted into Ball State for the fall academic year and we expect to see her and her work at future conferences, including WiCys 2019.