Cybersecurity isn’t ready for the conversation about how bad sexism and ageism are in the whole pen test / red team community, or how influencer culture and the saturated market are enabling it to get worse. linkedin.com/pulse/tryhackmes-…
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
Random Damage 🌻
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Lesley Carhart reshared this.
Kay
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Strange how in a country with so many tech experts they couldn't find women speakers.
Recently I attended #Kawaiicon2025 a #Cybersecurity / #InfoSec conference in Aotearoa New Zealnd, a country with just over 5Million people living here. They found an assortment credible and interesting speakers who were men or women or nonbinary (NB). Same with panels. And organisers which helps. The participating audience was still more Men than Women or NB but anyone attending would have found peers.
kawaiicon.org/talks/
A fully sponsored Girl Geek Dinner pre-con welcoming event was also held.
kawaiicon.org/con-events/#girl…
Calling out manels (all male panels) is brave work and it's helpful when men do the "Do Better" call.
Hallway con - Kawaiicon 2025
Kawaiicon 2025JW
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Lesley Carhart
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Lesley Carhart
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Allen but one of the good ones reshared this.
Lesley Carhart
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Alex
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Lesley Carhart reshared this.
Kim Scheinberg
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •I don't mean to laugh, but this is quite the thread to read while spouse and I are at the tail end of our fifth rewatch of _The Americans_
<insert Margo Martindale gif here>
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Dave Wilburn
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •This is disappointing. Am I misremembering, or didn't they have several women in previous years? I wonder what changed that allowed this to happen.
I also wonder if the speakers had any insight or awareness, or any opportunity to inquire before they accepted their roles. I'm speculating that it's probably not like a panel (or rather a "manel") where you would know who your fellow co-panelists are, but maybe I'm wrong. But it still leads me to wonder if there's a way to inquire and issue demands after your proposal has been accepted. What's the best practice here for prospective speakers submitting to a CFP or responding to an invite?
Raccoon🏳️🌈
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •The sad thing is that penetration testing is fun. It's basically hammering every solution you can think of at a puzzle you can't see, often having to adapt on the fly to information as you get it, especially when you are pulling off physical or social methods.
It honestly should be for everyone.
sortius
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Lesley Carhart
in reply to sortius • • •sortius
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Random Damage 🌻
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •this is one of the *advantages* to transitioning over 50.
With very few exceptions I'm not expected to perform femininity in the same way that a woman in her 30's or younger would be, for most people I'm post-sexual and in a different category completely
Michael Weiss
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •that's advantageous for those older women who do go into red teaming. If it were a common thing, they'd become suspicious, too.
The stereotype of the young male in the hoodie is very useful for those who aren't any of those things.
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Misuse Case
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Balthasar
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •I once witnessed well-known European red teamers get into a push up contest at a conference after a few beers…
In the industry, a self-perception of “I can hack it, I am so much better than the people who build it”, really feeds into this male ego culture.
I think we need to emphasise our purpose as red teamers is not to show how good we are but to help organisations understand weak spots and attacker behaviour. We should view red teaming as tricky puzzles instead of being a vigilante mercenaries.
josh g.
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Lesley Carhart
Unknown parent • • •Em
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Sam Stephens
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •Lesley Carhart
in reply to Sam Stephens • • •David Pollak
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •a mono-culture reduces the set of ideas explored… very bad for red teams…
A mono-culture of well off white men who can confidently walk through high crime areas without worrying (I’m in that group) perceives far fewer threats than marginalized folks. This is a huge negative for red and blue team.
Net-net, it’s fucking stupid not to engage with a broad set of folks when red teaming.
satire
in reply to Lesley Carhart • • •I’m not sure it’s wise to use a subtitle that I would have suggested. Well played for slipping it in.
#rimshot #humor #ThreeInOne #NowFour