CyberScape Africa Magazine Q2 2019 | Page 46

CYBER SCAPE AFRICA | Q2 2019 The Blacks in Cybersecurity, LLC Conference series known more commonly as “B.I.C.” has recently made its way into the Cybersecurity and Information Security conference scene in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area, U.S.A. Through addressing the lack of resources available to communities by having regular events and providing incite via knowledge shares and online spaces for interaction as well as using our platform to regularly cite both executive-level through entry level African American Cybersecurity professionals, hobbyists, and interested individuals B.I.C. seeks to address the issue of lack of proper inclusion in the Cybersecurity field. In the United States, there are approximately only 12.3% of African Americans working as Information Security Analysts in the field. In analyzing this statistic, it can be inferred that there is a dramatic lack of representation in this field compared to the general population of African Americans in the country. This lack not only represents that opportunities that are potentially missed by qualified members but also, the lack of neurodiversity that the African American community could offer that is missing from the Cybersecurity community as a whole. B.I.C was founded early in the spring of 2018 and later officially organized in January of 2019. The official mission of Blacks In Cybersecurity, LLC is to encourage the participation of people of color in Cybersecurity. In taking on this powerful mission, B.I.C strives to be a conference series and meetup group to help highlight and elevate minorities in the Cybersecurity field. Since conception, this conference series has hosted several happy hours, networking events, scheduled meetups at common conferences, and their own unique brand of micro conferences called “Minicons”. For many in the Delaware-D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (D.M.V.) area, B.I.C. is not simply a series of events but, a small reunion from which meaningful comradery is formed and familiar faces can be matched with their twitter profiles and engaged with in rigorous conversation. This lack of representation from the African American community as well as the lack of access to adequate resources has caused much discussion in the African American community working in Cybersecurity and Technology related fields. This constant discussion in forums, panels, conferences and social media over the issue has always circled around to the same question, “How can we get more African Americans in Cyber?”. 46