Kimberly Peretti, left, and Amy Mushahwar of Alston & Bird/courtesy photos

According to a 2019 report, only 24% of cybersecurity professionals are women. Though a growing rate, it's easy for a female cybersecurity professional to believe there's very few women similarly positioned. When looking for a legal resource to discuss strategies to combat cyber threats, finding a female cybersecurity lawyer seems even more unlikely. However, two Alston & Bird partners hope to change that.

On Wednesday, Amy Mushahwar and Kim Peretti launched Women In Cyber, a network to introduce female in-house and private practice lawyers to cybersecurity female professionals to discuss cybersecurity's enterprise risks. 

Peretti and Mushahwar plan to leverage listservs and LinkedIn to keep members engaged. They also plan to host three events in California, New York and Atlanta this year where a senior-level female executive leads a discussion regarding corporate cyber risk. If the coronavirus makes in-person events unfeasible, Peretti said they'll leverage an online platform for digital discussions. 

The network's goal is to bring together female corporate executives whose tasks include cybersecurity and legal duties with other similarly positioned women in legal to encourage the sharing of information regarding cybersecurity risks and solutions and related legal issues, Peretti explained.

To be sure, cybersecurity conferences geared toward women do exist, such as Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS). Still, no groups existed that connected female cybersecurity executives to female legal professionals regarding the legal ramifications of cybersecurity, Peretti said. 

"Legal increasingly has a role in cybersecurity and information security," she said. "With that in mind, we have more and more women executives whose role touches upon legal and they are looking to build upon that network." Women are stepping into chief privacy officer roles that include legal tasks and cybersecurity counsel positions, but many are new to cybersecurity and finding women with similar positions is difficult, Peretti added.

Despite more women joining executive-level cybersecurity roles, Peretti noted the percentage is fairly low, as is the amount of women who are in cybersecurity practice groups in law firms.

"I would think, in the legal industry in particular, this is a very new role for women … and it would be difficult to find others and build up this network," Peretti said.