Introducing women with a deep interest in cybersecurity

Soffenny is a Security Services Sales Leader at IBM where she spearheaded Cybersecurity services offerings in Singapore. Soffenny has over 6 years of experience in Cybersecurity industry. She is an independent and self- motivated sales professional who carries a high expectation of herself and always striving to succeed. Her network and close relationship with partners and customers have help to provide vital client leads to her team and increase in business for the organization that she has worked for.

What brought you to the cybersecurity industry?

I started my career in the IT infrastructure space as a sales representative providing advise mainly on managed services, cloud adoption and infrastructure enhancement, and over the years, with security breaches making headlines, my clients were asking to include security solutions in all the engagement we had. Being an opportunistic salesperson, it was clear at that time that cyber security will be the upcoming booming industry, therefore, I started applying for jobs in the cyber security space and got into a cyber security MNC.

Gradually, I picked up my knowledge through on job trainings and industry cyber security courses and realized that many scenarios are relatable to our daily activities.

What were your defining moments in this industry, and factors or guidance that helped you achieve them?

As a non-tech cyber professional, I had good mentors and industry friends who had provided me with guidance and advise. And I strongly believe that volunteering is definitely one of the good way to learn and grow personally. I started volunteering in several initiatives - Cybersecurity Awareness and Advisory Programme (CAAP), Ladies in Cyber (LIC) Charter, Student Volunteer Recognition Programme (SVRP) and the recent formed IoT Special Interest Group.

For the initiatives, I have helped to provide my expertise and knowledge on the ecosystem such as cyber vulnerabilities for SMEs, career guidance to female students as a regular speaker for LIC school talks and as a mentor to female IHL students. Over the years, I am delighted to know that people are benefitting from what I have shared and at the same time, I have learnt a lot of interacting with many professionals in the cyber space.

What is it that you loved most about your role?

The things I do and the people I meet and interact with especially the Youths.

Prominent Cybersecurity trends:

What are some of the trends you have seen in the market lately, and what do you think will emerge in the future?

It’s no surprise that COVID-19 and the resulting shift to remote work had major implications for the world of cybersecurity.

Most of my client that I have spoken to mention the rise of Ransomware attacks, Cloud services attacks and lack of cyber security professionals as some of their cyber security challenges.

Females in Cyber Security

What can we do to encourage more women to join the cybersecurity sector?

I have personally attended, host and planned many ladies in cyber activities and forum, through this, I would say that in Singapore, we have many good initiatives and programs with government support to encourage gender equality in workspace.

Would like to take this chance to emphasize that there are many careers’ opportunities available in the cyber security space, not necessary all the times technical skillset is required.

In my area of work, the percentage of female representatives supersede male. There are many non-technical and interesting career options available in the cybersecurity space too.

Final thoughts

How can you debunk the myth that cybersecurity is only for men? Is there any indication this stereotyping is changing?

To keep learning and exploring since technology moves fast. Don’t be afraid to ask and try out new opportunities that were previously unexplored.