Five
women receive a cybersecurity scholarship at FS-ISAC's annual Asia-Pacific
Summit
SINGAPORE - Media
OutReach - 23 July 2018 - The Financial Services Information Sharing
Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) announced the
recipients of the Building Cybersecurity Diversity
(BCD) scholarship in Singapore. The announcement was made at the FS-ISAC
summit in Singapore.

BCD Scholarship recipients pictured from left to right: Sun Meng, Gayathri Sugumar, Tan Zhi Xuan Francine, Yvonne Soh and Tan Lixin.
According to Frost & Sullivan's 2017
Global Information Security Workforce study, women
are underrepresented in the global cybersecurity workforce at a mere 11 percent
compared to their male counterparts. In Asia Pacific, women make up only 10
percent of the cybersecurity workforce.
The scholarship was
started by FS-ISAC in 2016 to bridge the diversity gap by helping women
interested in cybersecurity kickstart their careers. This is the first year the
BCD scholarship is being offered in Asia Pacific.
To date, FS-ISAC has awarded seven scholarships, with additional scholarships
to be awarded in Europe and the U.S. later this year.
"FS-ISAC started the BCD scholarship because we
believe that diversity of thought can help the global financial services
industry stay ahead of cybercrime," said Bill Nelson, president and CEO of
FS-ISAC. "Women are underrepresented in our field by a large percentage, so
FS-ISAC is trying to build up the talent pipeline with top students looking to
break into the field."
The scholarship offers $5,000 and a trip to the
regional summit for a chance to learn and network with influential industry
leaders. Scholarship recipients are also paired with industry mentors.
This year's scholarship recipients are: Yvonne Soh, Tan Lixin, Tan Zhi Xuan
Francine, Sun Meng and Gayathri Sugumar.
- Yvonne
Soh is pursuing a diploma in digital forensics at
Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore. She is also a member of the Singapore Symphony
Youth Choir.
- Tan
Lixin is pursuing a diploma in digital forensics at
Temasek Polytechnic. She is also a member of Temasek Polytechnic's Information
Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) student group.
- Tan
Zhi Xuan Francine is pursuing a diploma in digital
forensics at Temasek Polytechnic. She participated in ongoing cybersecurity
research at the University of Waikato in New Zealand for three months. She is
also a certified system administrator.
- Sun
Meng is a Ph.D. candidate pursuing a degree in electrical
engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Her research
focuses on privacy preservation in data mining.
Gayathri
Sugumar is a Ph.D. candidate pursuing a degree in
cybersecurity at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. Aside from
her research, she has been a volunteer with the national cadets.
About
FS-ISAC:
The Financial Services Information Sharing and
Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) is a non-profit corporation that was established in
1999 and is funded by its 7,000 member firms headquartered in 45 countries with
users in 72 countries. FS-ISAC is a member-driven organization whose mission is
to help assure the resilience and continuity of the global financial services
infrastructure and individual firms against acts that could significantly
impact the sector's ability to provide services critical to the orderly function
of the global economy. FS-ISAC shares threat and vulnerability information,
conducts coordinated contingency planning exercises, manages rapid response
communications for both cyber and physical events, conducts education and
training programs and fosters collaborations with and among other key sectors
and government agencies. Follow us on Twitter @FSISAC, on LinkedIn
or visit www.fsisac.com.