Saudi Gazette report

ABHA — The General Department of Cybersecurity at King Khalid University recently organized a program titled “Women in Cybersecurity” initiative to enhance the opportunities for Saudi women in the fields of cybersecurity and information security.

Several cybersecurity specialists attended the event, which aimed at all those interested in cybersecurity from within and outside the university, to achieve the university’s mission of social contribution through the optimal utilization of its resources. This also aimed at realizing the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in order to enhance the role of women in various areas needed by the labor market.

As part of the three-day initiative, a pavilion was set up to introduce technical and digital aspects to interested students, and the initiative concluded its activities at one of the commercial complexes in Abha.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Saqar, general supervisor of the General Department of Cybersecurity at the university, said that the initiative is the first phase of a management program, while the second phase, which is meant to provide support, orientation and training to women, will be launched soon for a full year. Through these outputs, other programs and training courses will be held in the following year.

For her part, Amira Al-Ahmari, supervisor of the initiative, stressed that the aim of the program is to raise the percentage of women in the field of information security. This is in view of the statistical reports showing low percentage of women in the fields of information security and cybersecurity in the labor market around the world.

It is noteworthy that more than 200 women have benefited from meetings with specialists in cybersecurity during the initiative, in addition to a large number of interested women and visitors to the pavilions of the initiative at the university.