History of Women in Tech and Cyber Security

WOMEN IN SECURITY History of Women in Tech and Cyber Security Many great women have changed the tech world, writes Software engineer and cyber security specialist Darya Kokovikhina. Remembering their often forgotten stories can help inspire a new generation to break the digital gender gap.

The history of women in tech and cyber security is longer than you probably know. Technologies we know today might be different or might not even exist without the many great contributions made by women.

Women`s achievements in tech and cyber include but are not limited to the development of the STP algorithm (what we call today`s Internet), codebreaking work during World War Two that exposed Nazi spy rings, the first computer algorithm and compiler, and many more.

Ada Lovelace is the world`s first conceptual computer programmer who wrote the first computer program to calculate Bernoulli numbers on paper because no computers existed at the time.

Based on her notes, she was the first person to recognise that a general purpose computer could do anything if the right data and instructions were given.

The programming language ‘Ada’ was named after her and is now used around the world, including in the operation of real-time systems in areas where reliability and safety are critical, such as aviation, transportation, health care, infrastructure, space and finance.

Grace Hopper is the esteemed computer scientist who was involved in the creation of UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer), the first all-electronic digital computer. One of Hopper’s inventions was the first computer compiler – a program that translates written instructions into machine language.

Hopper`s team invented the FlowMatic language, which is considered to be the first compiler-based programming language and the first language to be expressed in English keywords rather than numbers or machine code.

She also helped develop the programming language COBOL, the first standardised general business computer language. It’s still in use today. She predicted that in the future computers will be small to fit on a desk and will be used by everyone.

Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr was also an inventor. She invented frequency hopping with the “Secret Communication System”. She designed a device that prevented enemy ships from detecting and jamming radio-controlled torpedoes. Today, this invention is used in modern wireless communication, including WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth.

Inventor Carmelo ‘Nino’ Amarena once said about Lamarr, “We talked like two engineers on a hot project, I never felt I was talking to a movie star, but to a fellow inventor.”

Elizabeth S. Friedman is a cryptanalyst and codebreaker, and has been called ‘America’s first female cryptanalyst’. Friedman is considered to be the world`s best-known codebreaker and her achievements have only come to light in recent years.

During World War Two Friedman deciphered enemy messages sent by Germany’s Enigma machines, uncovering a Nazi spy ring based in South America in 1943. “She was this amazing, hidden woman behind so many important secret battles of the 20th century,” commented journalist Jason Fagone.

Radia Perlman is a computer programmer, network engineer and who is often referred to as the ‘Mother of Internet’. She developed the algorithm behind the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).

Spanning Tree Protocol setup allows the automatic backup of paths that have failed but are still active, incapacitate the links that are not related to the path and enable a network to send data accurately and reliably. This innovation was fundamental to network bridges and what we now call the Internet.

There were so many more great influential women who changed the tech world. Remembering their often forgotten stories can help in inspiring a new generation of women to break the digital gender gap.

Darya Kokovikhina is a Software Engineer and Cyber Security Specialist