IIITM-K, in association with the ACM Trivandrum Professional Chapter and the IEEE Communication Society Kerala Chapter, organized a Workshop on Women in Cybersecurity Research (WCR’18) on 25–26 May 2018 at IIITM-K. The workshop served as a venue for women teachers, research scholars, post graduate students and corporate professionals across India to exchange their ideas and best practices in cybersecurity.
The two-day workshop showcased insightful sessions by eminent speakers from renowned institutions inside and outside India including Dr. Indrakshi Ray, Professor, Computer Science Department, Colorado State University, USA; Dr. Krishnasree Achuthan, Director, TBI, Amrita Viswavidyapeetam; Ms. Shweta Chawla, SC Cyber Solutions, Pune; Dr. Aninditha Banerjee, QuNu Labs, Bangalore; Dr. Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, IIIT-Delhi; Dr. Sudip Misra, IIT-Kharagpur; Mr. Adarsh S V, Sr. Security Analyst, UST Global, Trivandrum; Ms. Jancy Jose, Managing Director, Strava Technologies; and Mr. Manoj Kumar R, Tata Elxsi, Trivandrum. The speakers shared their experiences in the field of security and sparked the passion in the audience to make a move toward new ventures aimed at women empowerment. The participants were also enlightened by the short talks and discussions by research scholars on various research works published in top venues which highlighted recent developments in diverse areas including secure localization in wireless sensor networks, image forensics, LOADng IoT, video surveillance and distributed access control mechanisms.
The two day workshop concluded with a panel discussion on the topic “Why women’s expertise remains unutilized in the cyber security domain?” moderated by Dr. Ciza Thomas, Professor, College of Engineering Trivandrum. The essence of the panel discussion motivated women candidates to tread the arduous paths to attain success in the area of cyber security. The workshop was marked by the immense participation of women delegates across the country and received a wide response from the participants. It proved to be an effective platform that offered awareness and insights into the latest technologies and advancements in cybersecurity research.