Promoting gender inclusion in cybersecurity: OSCE holds first expert workshop as part of Mentorship programme for women cyber professionals

SARAJEVO - The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mission), with valuable support from the Embassy of the Czech Republic, held a two-day expert workshop in Sarajevo as part of the Mentorship programme for women cyber professionals.

The programme aims to strengthen Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) human and technical capacities in cybersecurity by empowering, connecting, and strengthening the expertise of women working in the field. It also  supports the implementation of OSCE commitments on gender equality and the Women, Peace and Security agenda, including UN Security Council Resolution 1325, by promoting greater gender diversity across both the public and private sectors.

The workshop gathered 13 selected mentors and mentees from the programme, alongside international cybersecurity expert. Discussions focused on a range of pressing topics, such as evolving cybersecurity trends, information security frameworks and compliance, generative artificial intelligence and related cyber threats, disinformation and cyberbullying. Participants also engaged in practical exercises on incident response and vulnerability analysis, enabling them to strengthen their technical skills and share best practices for countering emerging threats.

The event was organized within the framework of the project “Building Sustainable Cybersecurity Capacities in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The project aims to support the development of a globally connected network of proactive computer emergency response teams and computer security incident response teams in BiH, as well as providing targeted support to ICT/cybersecurity teams within relevant BiH institutions to strengthen their capacities.

Further, the project focuses on encouraging cross-sectoral co-operation and broader community engagement through the promotion of public-private partnerships, reflecting OSCE Cyber Confidence-Building Measure No.8, as well as the introduction of mentorship programs for women in cyber security to strengthen inclusivity and diversity in this field.