“You know a lot”, remarked an apprentice recently while I was looking at some tickets from the Stone Age and explaining long-gone threats. The more younger people join infosec, the more I realise: Yes, in fact, I have been around for a while. Surely, Hackers (1995) was my gateway drug, but attending my first Chaos Communication Congress in 2010 was true First Contact. Back then, if you weren’t already working in tech, this was one of the few opportunities to dive into infosec topics. Live-hacking CTFs on YouTube were not really a thing yet, and if you wanted access to the scene, this was the place to go. Most other conferences — even today — have price tags clearly meant to be paid by an employer and not by yourself. And if it’s one-third of your part-time salary, why even bother? During the 2010s, I became a regular C3 attendee while also connecting with more and more peers online (thanks, 2010s Twitter). And even though I’m only a few years into an actual infosec job, the knowledge has accumulated: Confs, meet-ups, more confs, workshops, years of tech-journalism, a computer science degree.

A lot has changed. My first Blackhoodie workshop was a watershed moment (eternal thanks, Marion): For the first time in my life I was in a room full of other women keen on learning reverse engineering. They exist! The event grew from 30 to 80 women within a couple of years and is now a movement of its own, with self-organised events all over the world. Infosec has become more accessible. Gatekeeping in offensive security and “hacking” is still the modus operandi, but CTFs have proliferated, most conferences stream to YouTube (even some pricey ones), tutorials and materials are everywhere.

A lot has not changed. Fifteen years later, I still enter a room full of strangers and no one takes it for granted that I can actually handle a computer, let alone a command line. You can have a conference for women in cybersecurity, but once you subtract all non-technical people, the number left is your representation in today’s teams. Women’s toilets at infosec events still have next to no queues (except for said conference type). Non-tech people are amazed to hear that, yes, the percentage of women (and other non-cis-het-White-male identities) in my field has remained low. Please do not ask me why.

But: Over the last 15 years, I’ve grown to become part of communities — especially local communities. Our tiny, casual meet-up before the Pandemic has grown into a sizeable member group. Once a month I get to sit at a table with like-minded FINTA people; once a year I am in a room full of good old friends and peers who accompanied me for the last 10+ years (thanks!). “Nevertheless, she persisted”, goes the popular saying, and hopefully, when I retire, everyone who enters a room will at least be considered a potential next Acid Burn.

Last modified on 2025-12-05