Three female Fellows of the CyberGirls initiative, a brainchild of CyberSafe Foundation, have been chosen to participate in the Global Industry Control Systems (ICS) workshop holding in Miami, Florida.
The three CyberGirls from CyberSafe Foundation’s Critical Infrastructure Security training track were invited to participate by the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.S. Department of State, organisers of the workshop, to join their contemporaries from 23 other countries drawn from all the continents.
The three girls drawn from Nigeria, Cameroon and Kenya are Victoria Arinola (Nigeria); Nahvoma Vanessa (Cameroon) and Beatrice Mwangi (Kenya).
According to a statement, the workshop, which will run from August 22 to 25, 2023 is a hands-on introductory to intermediate ICS workshop, and will introduce cybersecurity professionals from over 16 countries to foundational skills to protect industrial control systems using offensive and defensive methods. The workshop will also expose the participants to tools involved in effective ICS work, and practical exercise to develop “kill chain” skills against a cyber-attack.
Speaking on the workshop, Founder and Executive Director of CyberSafe Foundation, Confidence Staveley thanked the CISA team for the opportunity granted the girls, and enthused that it will further contribute to securing industrial control systems in Africa.
“I look forward to seeing our fellows, post training, using the knowledge gained to keep our industrial control systems secure.”
As part of the training, participants will delve into Cyberstrike, examining how an industry process can be compromised through the internet in stages, including reconnaissance, weaponization, delivery, exploitation, installation, command and control.
Staveley expressed her appreciation to CISA for fully funding the CyberGirls participation, including tuition and travel costs.
Beatrice Mwangi from Kenya is a cyber security talent with a passion for critical infrastructure security, and with core competences in network security, security policy and governance, Industrial Control Systems (ICS) security, compliance and regulatory knowledge, ethical hacking and penetration testing, Identity and access management (IAM), and digital transformation support, among other strong knowledge base, key achievements and certifications.
Cameroonian, Nahvoma Vanessa, who currently works as technical support officer while interning at CyberSafe Foundation, where she is learning how to defend against threat to ICS/SCADA networks, and skilled in using Network Monitoring and Security tools.
Nigeria’s Victoria Arinola, a passionate CIS professional with a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and wealth of knowledge in building electrical systems, sensors and equipment, has acquired numerous certifications that covers network architecture and security.
CyberGirls, an initiative of CyberSafe Foundation, is Africa’s biggest female-focused cybersecurity training and mentorship programme. To learn more about us, donate or partner, please visit https://cybergirls.cybersafefoundation.org
