Canadian Women in Cybersecurity 2025: Fostering Diversity and Leadership
The Canadian Women in Cybersecurity 2025 event successfully convened a powerful group of executives, strategists, and experts dedicated to advancing women’s roles and leadership within the security industry. Held at Simon Fraser University, the forum served as a crucial platform for knowledge sharing, mentorship, and addressing the technical and strategic challenges facing the Canadian cyber landscape.
Themes and Highlights
The central focus of the event was diversity, executive-level strategy, and next-generation defense. Highlights likely included:
Cyber Leadership & Mentorship:
Discussions were geared toward fostering the next generation of female leaders, with sessions on career paths and overcoming industry barriers, featuring insights from C-suite executives.
GRC and Incident Response:
Key sessions tackled critical enterprise areas such as Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) led by experts like Mary Carmichael (Momentum Technology) and detailed approaches to handling major threats, highlighted by Maleena Singh (Mirai Security Inc.) on Incident Response.
Public-Sector Cyber Strategy: The involvement of high-level government figures, including Jillian Carruthers (BC Public Service) and Sherry Rumbolt (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat), ensured a strong focus on national cyber resilience, policy, and public infrastructure security.
Speakers and Sponsors
Speakers: The conference featured a highly experienced roster of speakers, emphasizing senior and executive roles across diverse sectors. Notable participants included Octavia Howell (VP, CISO at Equifax Canada), who provided insight into financial sector security, and Richard Henderson (Executive Director & CISO at Alberta Health Services), who shared strategies for critical healthcare infrastructure. The lineup also showcased key architectural and technical expertise from Vivienne Suen (Distinguished Full Stack Architect at TD Bank) and Alex Dow (Chief Innovations Officer at Mirai Security).
Sponsors:
The event demonstrated broad industry support from both global tech firms and dedicated Canadian organizations. Major sponsors included industry heavyweights like AWS, BELL, IBM, JUNIPER NETWORKS, and MNP, providing high-level technological perspective. Specialized security support came from vendors such as ARCTIC WOLF, VEEAM, GUARDICORE, and PROOFPOINT. The critical role of regional collaboration was also highlighted by the support from Durham REGION and the Town of Ajax, underscoring the commitment to cyber education and resilience at all levels of governance. https://www.youtube.com/@siberxorg/playlists
