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Lloyds Banking Group Renews Support for Initiative Promoting Gender Diversity in Cyber Security

With Cyber Scotland Week’s annual focus on all things “cyber” in Scotland taking place next week, Lloyds Banking Group has announce its renewed support for the “Empowering Women to Lead Cyber Security” Initiative.

The parent group to Scotland’s oldest bank was one of the founding industry partners for the “Empowering…” Initiative’s launch last year and have again joined forces with The Scottish Government, ScotlandIS and Scottish Digital Academy in their efforts to develop a community of emerging female leaders in cyber security and information governance roles across Scotland and try to address the long-standing lack of women working within the sector.

The intensive leadership programme is running from March – June and brings together 20-24, early-mid career cybersecurity and information management professionals, who have been selected this week from a Scotland-wide open application process which attracted interest from applicants across a diverse range of sectors. All places on the programme are free of charge to participants, with the funding provided by a combination of government and industry partners including Morgan Stanley and Quorum Cyber, alongside Lloyds Banking Group.

The final make-up of the cohort is agreed on by the programme’s panel of experts including  Ciara Mitchell, Head of Cyber Security at ScotlandIS, The Scottish Government’s Head of Cyber Resilience Policy, Clare el Azebbi, and Roz Britton, Head of Talent Attraction and Capability for the Digital Profession at The Scottish Government, along with senior representatives from industry, including Lloyds Banking Group’s Head of Joint Security Operations Centre, Findlay Whitelaw.

Commenting on why the financial giant had decided to support the initiative, Findlay said “At Lloyds Banking Group we fully recognise that gender diversity is key to our success and that of our people. As an organisation we need to reflect the society we serve and that is why we are thrilled to be part of this initiative to encourage women to develop their careers in IT and Cyber Security leadership again in 2022.

The low proportion of women in the UK cyber workforce really highlights the challenge we have and if we want to remove the barriers to women as they embark on and progress their careers in Cyber Security, and help them overcome their challenges, programmes like this are instrumental in achieving this.”

Further information on the “Empowering Women to Lead Cyber Security” programme can be found at the Empowering You website.

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