Women in Cyber Threat Intelligence: No Typical Path
I wrote this article for the Filigran Blog to launch the Women in CTI eBook. Here’s how it opens.
TL;DR
- Sixteen women share how they built careers in CTI, and almost none of them followed the same route.
- Rebecca Taylor, Cheryl Biswas, and Maril Vernon came from research, freelance security work, and pentesting, proof that a CTI career doesn’t require a single “correct” entry point.
- Across all 16 stories, three qualities keep showing up: comfort with uncertainty, strong communication, and curiosity that predates any formal CTI title.
- Several were trusted with real responsibility before their resumes “caught up,” a pattern hiring managers should start looking for.
Ask most people to picture someone who works in cyber threat intelligence (CTI), and you get a fairly specific image. Computer science degree. A few years in a SOC. A move into intelligence once they’d proven themselves on the technical side.
Over the past few weeks, I watched the interviews behind our new eBook and listened to 16 women working across threat intelligence describe how they entered the field. Their experiences carry lessons for anyone considering a career in CTI, as well as the leaders hiring and developing its future talent.
Almost none of them followed a conventional career path.
One has a degree in English and creative writing. One spent 10 years at home raising her children. One was a barista, a wedding planner, and an IT recruiter before she ever touched a security tool. They now track ransomware groups, run threat intelligence functions, and build companies.