Google Extends Grant to Female Hackers to Participate in HITBSecConf2012 – Amsterdam

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 27 April 2012 – This year Google has once again extended its Diversity Grant Program for female hackers to attend the third annual HITB conference in Europe, HITBSecConf2012 – Amsterdam.

Now known as Google EMEA Travel and Conference Grant, the award is part of Google’s ongoing commitment to encourage women in computing and technology. It was initiated to allow more female computer scientists to attend conferences and events like HITBSecConf.

This year’s first award  has been given out to recipient Rossella Mattioli who is completing her MSc in Cyber Security at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia with a thesis on a framework for cyber security information exchange.

“Thank you to Google for the grant which allows me to attend HITBSecConf2012 – Amsterdam. Cyber security today is an intersection of hacking, academia, governments and business. The only way to have a complete picture is to understand all these multidisciplinary approaches and conferences like this are a perfect example of such an intersection,” said Mattioli.

One more award remains up for grabs, and women who maintain strong academic background, demonstrate leadership ability and are working or studying Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a technical field related to the conference subject are encouraged to apply. Recipients will not only receive complimentary access to the 2-day quad-track conference valued at EUR 1199 but also up to EUR1000 towards their travel expenses.

“It’s great to see Google not only recognizing the achievements of women in IT security but also helping to enable and encourage more to enter this field by giving them access to invaluable networking opportunities via conferences such as HITBSecConf” said Dhillon Kannabhiran, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hack In The Box.

“The security industry could certainly benefit from having more brilliant women in leadership roles like Window Snyder (Security and Privacy Product Manager at Apple Inc) and Katie Moussouris (Senior Security Strategist at Microsoft Security Response Center)”, he continued.

Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe, Google’s Diversity and Talent Inclusion Programs Manager, EMEA said “At Google we understand that diverse teams create diversity of thought which leads to greater creativity and innovation, our amazing female engineers are right at the heart of this innovation. This is why we are committed to increasing the number of women working in IT security, not just in Google but in the industry as a whole, so I am very excited that Google are again extending travel grants to HITBSecConf and I would encourage female hackers to apply for a grant to attend the Amsterdam Conference.”

Applications must be made online no later than 4th May 2012 with the subject heading “HITB2012AMS – Google EMEA Travel and Conference Grant” and submissions can be sent in online via:

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/travelgrants/ 

For further details on the third annual HITB Security Conference including draft conference agenda, speaker line up and information on other event proceedings, please see: http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2012ams/