WiCyS 2026 exceeds expectations for women in cybersecurity

Every year, the Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) conference invites women and allies in cybersecurity to gather in community to help recruit, retain and advance women in the field.

Over the course of three days, conference attendees hear from keynote speakers, attend technical presentations, workshops and discussions, and engage in career development activities.

This year’s conference took place in Washington, D.C., and several students received scholarships to attend, either directly through WiCyS or with support from the School of STEM’s Department of Computing & Software Systems.

Learning from industry insiders

Pragnya Ambekar, a student in the Master of Science in Computer Science & Software Engineering program, received a scholarship from the Department of Computing & Software Systems to attend the conference. “I wanted to attend because I was curious about cybersecurity beyond what I was doing in my research,” Ambekar said. “I knew WiCyS would give me a chance to see what the field actually looks like from different angles.”

Ambekar participated in a variety of activities throughout the conference. She attended a presentation about how encrypted systems can leak sensitive data during recovery, as well as a hands-on workshop for AI for smart contract security, where she learned about training transformer models to detect vulnerabilities. Beyond the sessions, she connected with industry professionals at the career fair, where she spoke with recruiters and learned firsthand about what companies are working on in her field.

“I expected it to be a good conference with solid technical content and networking but honestly it exceeded my expectations,” Ambekar said. “足彩app哪个是正规的 scale of it was bigger than I imagined and the quality of the workshops and presentations was really high.”

Dr. Geetha Thamilarasu, associate professor in the Department of Computing & Software Systems, has been attending WiCyS for several years. She noted that WiCyS stands out particularly for its collaborative nature.

“WiCyS offers something I don’t find in other conferences: a strong sense of community, real mentorship, and direct access to people working in cybersecurity,” Thamilarasu said.

“As a female faculty member in cybersecurity, walking into a space filled with women leaders and experts is quite powerful; it’s both affirming and inspiring in a way that’s hard to fully capture.”

Ambekar also highlighted the strong sense of community, which was something she found surprising.

“Everyone was genuinely supportive and it wasn’t just surface level networking. People actually wanted to connect and help each other out,” Ambekar said. “足彩app哪个是正规的re are so many people doing really cool work in this space and everyone was so open and willing to share what they know.”

Thamilarasu spent significant time at the conference networking and connecting with industry and other educators, which helps her prepare for the classroom.

“I’m always thinking: ‘What skills do [students] really need? How can we improve what we teach?’” she said. “I also use this space to connect with senior leaders in cybersecurity, to understand where the field is heading, and to bring those insights back into my teaching and research.”

A future in cybersecurity

After her experience at the conference, Ambekar is looking forward to her career ahead.

“Being around women and allies who are all working in this space and cheering each other on was really motivating,” she said. “And practically speaking, the connections I made at the career fair and in the workshops are things I’m actively following up on.”

Thamilarasu echoed this sentiment. “Over the years, WiCyS has changed how I see cybersecurity,” she said. “It’s not just about technology, it’s about people, collaboration, and creating opportunities.”

Ambekar came into the conference knowing it would offer multiple perspectives on the field of cybersecurity. Now, she realized that her expectations have changed, particularly on Machine Learning (ML).

“Before WiCyS I saw cybersecurity as something adjacent to my work but not really a career path I was seriously considering,” Ambekar said. “[I learned that] cybersecurity and ML are way more connected than I realized. Almost every session I attended had some AI or ML component to it which made me feel like my research background is actually really relevant to this field.”

As graduation comes up, she is thinking creatively about roles that blend security and ML– things like AI powered vulnerability detection, threat modeling with natural language processing, or building security tools that use machine learning.

“足彩app哪个是正规的 conference showed me that there’s a real need for people with ML skills in cybersecurity and that’s something I want to explore as I figure out my next steps after graduation.”

After providing attendees with the opportunity to expand on hands-on skills, connect with industry and learn about where cybersecurity is headed, WiCyS went above and beyond to create a space where women and allies in the field are supported and well-prepared for the future.

As Thamilarasu said, “足彩app哪个是正规的re’s a strong, supportive community working to shape the future of this field, and I’m glad to be part of it.”