March 8th is International Women’s Day!
We here at Webroot want to take this opportunity celebrate the strength, intelligence, and diversity of the women in our lives and across the world. In the world of cybersecurity, there are so many influential women that have made their mark and evolved this industry over the years. While I’d love to call out each and every single one of them, today I’m going to focus on one in particular: Joanna Rutkowska.
Born in 1981, Joanna is a Polish computer security researcher. She is most famous for her research in stealth malware and her development of Qubes OS - A security/privacy focused operating system. Joanna has also become well-known in white-hat hacking circles for exposing vulnerabilities in Windows Vista.
The development of Qubes OS is a particularly amazing achievement in her repertoire. An open-source, linux-based operating system, Qubes uses an interesting method to achieve a high level of privacy and security called “security by compartmentalization”. It uses domains deployed as lightweight virtual machines to isolate the important processes within the OS. With these compartments operating as separate virtual machines, it is incredibly difficult for a hacker or government-run spy agency to access key information or inject malware into the machine. Qubes OS is truly an evolutionary software for individuals rightfully seeking to keep their information and data as secure as possible.
Joanna has presented at high-level security conferences such as Chaos Communication Congress, Black Hat Briefings, RSA conference, and the Gartner IT Security Summit. She will likely continue making great strides in the world of security and will certainly go down in the history books as a highly influential woman in Cybersecurity.
Now, I want to hear from all of you! Please share any stories about an influential woman in your life, be they friends, colleagues, or family members. Do you know any women that are doing super cool things in IT or Cybersecurity? This is your chance to give them the recognition that they deserve!
I’m so excited to hear some of your stories - thanks for stopping in and celebrating women with us today!
To read more about this international holiday, please go here: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
