Cybersecurity Ventures of Northport announced that Sylvia Acevedo, the CEO for the Girl Scouts of the USA(GSUSA), has been named its 2018 Cybersecurity Person Of The Year.
“Sylvia Acevedo is a catalyst for the most important initiative we’ve witnessed in the cybersecurity industry over the past year,” says Steve Morgan, founder and Editor-In-Chief at Cybersecurity Ventures. “She has a vision and passion for teaching STEM and cybersecurity skills to a huge corps of young girls, many of whom will become our world’s future cyber-fighters.”
Given a worldwide deficit of 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs expected by 2021, up from 1 million in 2014, the Girl Scouts have the potential to produce more future cybersecurity students and workers than any other organization globally.
“I’m truly honored to receive this recognition from Cybersecurity Ventures. Bringing cybersecurity programming to Girl Scouts has been a passion project of mine for the past two years, and I’m thrilled with the impact we are making with partners like Palo Alto Networks and Raytheon,” says Sylvia Acevedo. “When Girl Scouts surveyed girls about the STEM skills they wanted to learn, ‘cybersecurity/white-hat hacking’ appeared high on the list. Because girls want to know how to protect themselves online, how to protect their homes and families, how to combat cyberbullying. Our programming gives them the tools they need to do all of this—and ensures American competitiveness in the cybersecurity arena.”