TryHackMe races to add women to Christmas cyber challenge roster after backlash
(2025/11/28)
- Reference: 1764336732
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/28/tryhackme_diversity_row/
- Source link:
Cybersecurity training provider TryHackMe is scrambling to recruit women infosec pros to help with its Christmas challenge following backlash concerning a lack of gender diversity.
In announcing its annual Advent of Cyber event, which offers 24 days of free beginner-level cyber training tasks throughout December, TryHackMe confirmed an 18-strong list of industry professionals and influencers enlisted to offer assistance to students completing the challenges.
None of these 18 figures were women, however, and the company said it is now working with Eva Benn, principal security program manager at Microsoft Security and Response Center, to [1]recruit women to Advent of Cyber's (AoC) helper list before it kicks off next week. Benn is now one of the event's registered helpers, with others being finalized today.
[2]
The training provider told The Register that the omission of women's representation was not intentional, and not through a lack of trying.
[3]
[4]
"We in fact reached out to several female creators to participate in this year's AoC, some of them declined due to prior commitments, and others did not respond despite follow-up emails," the spokesperson said. "We recognise we should have communicated this context better."
Confirming this, ethical hacker and university advisor Katie Paxton-Fear responded to a post highlighting the lack of representation, [5]saying she was among the women TryHackMe contacted, but couldn't make it.
[6]
"Representation is important to us, and based on the feedback, we are actively expanding the helper lineup," TryHackMe added. "We are currently onboarding a group of female creators in collaboration with Eva, and we are preparing to release this updated lineup for this year's Advent of Cyber."
The training company also went on to say that its situation reflects the number of women making cybersecurity content online (all helpers have sizable online followings), which pales in comparison to men. Only two of the top 100 channels publishing cybersecurity content globally are run by women, it claimed.
Caitlin Sarian, one of the biggest cybersecurity influencers with a combined following of more than 2 million, [7]branded TryHackMe's [8]diversity gaffe "insanity."
[9]Diversity, equity, and inclusion is not an illusion, but it soon might be
[10]Trump scrubs all mention of DEI, gender, climate change from federal websites
[11]Women in IT are on a 283-year march to parity, BCS warns
[12]Microsoft pushes for more women in cybersecurity
Lesley Carhart, infosec veteran and director of incident response at Dragos, took to social media to claim influencer culture is exacerbating the industry's deep-seated issues.
"Cybersecurity isn't ready for the conversation about how bad sexism and [13]ageism are in the whole pen test/ [14]red team community, or how influencer culture and the saturated market are enabling it to get worse," she [15]said .
[16]
Digital rights and cybersecurity education professional Michelle L told The Register that the news was "unsurprising" and criticized the men who agreed to partner with TryHackMe's event for not holding the company to account.
"This is unsurprising and sadly shows how normalized it is in tech to erase the work of and isolate women," she said. "Every single one of these men could and should have asked 'who else is involved' and refused to be included if it wasn't balanced.
"But as ever: Ego is the biggest vulnerability in cyber and tech. All this mess and for what? A little picture and a name drop in a publication no one cares about! Everyone fighting for crumbs from a table that they should be flipping over.
"It is why I and others have moved away from tech and cyber events, and even careers. Because we aren't safe, welcome, or paid fairly. I don't care about this calendar but I do care about the many femme-identifying and nonbinary folk that are harmed by the culture it represents." ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/evabenn_exciting-news-for-the-cybersecurity-community-activity-7399129202492493825-vMo9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABgHd_sB-83hxk2aeU84V7xLir_yIF2iCDA
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aSnVKW77M6UudVc5rq9eSAAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSnVKW77M6UudVc5rq9eSAAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7397498536881229825?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28ugcPost%3A7397498536881229825%2C7397688635757871106%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287397688635757871106%2Curn%3Ali%3AugcPost%3A7397498536881229825%29
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[7] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7398176889699422208/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/13/diversity_equity_inclusion_tech/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/13/diversity_equity_inclusion_tech/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/03/trump_admin_scrubs_dei_websites/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/gender_gap_it_employment/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/21/microsoft_women_cybersecurity/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/21/aws_sued_for_alleged_discrimination/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/13/cisa_red_team_layoffs/
[15] https://infosec.exchange/@hacks4pancakes/115591479480682301
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSnVKW77M6UudVc5rq9eSAAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In announcing its annual Advent of Cyber event, which offers 24 days of free beginner-level cyber training tasks throughout December, TryHackMe confirmed an 18-strong list of industry professionals and influencers enlisted to offer assistance to students completing the challenges.
None of these 18 figures were women, however, and the company said it is now working with Eva Benn, principal security program manager at Microsoft Security and Response Center, to [1]recruit women to Advent of Cyber's (AoC) helper list before it kicks off next week. Benn is now one of the event's registered helpers, with others being finalized today.
[2]
The training provider told The Register that the omission of women's representation was not intentional, and not through a lack of trying.
[3]
[4]
"We in fact reached out to several female creators to participate in this year's AoC, some of them declined due to prior commitments, and others did not respond despite follow-up emails," the spokesperson said. "We recognise we should have communicated this context better."
Confirming this, ethical hacker and university advisor Katie Paxton-Fear responded to a post highlighting the lack of representation, [5]saying she was among the women TryHackMe contacted, but couldn't make it.
[6]
"Representation is important to us, and based on the feedback, we are actively expanding the helper lineup," TryHackMe added. "We are currently onboarding a group of female creators in collaboration with Eva, and we are preparing to release this updated lineup for this year's Advent of Cyber."
The training company also went on to say that its situation reflects the number of women making cybersecurity content online (all helpers have sizable online followings), which pales in comparison to men. Only two of the top 100 channels publishing cybersecurity content globally are run by women, it claimed.
Caitlin Sarian, one of the biggest cybersecurity influencers with a combined following of more than 2 million, [7]branded TryHackMe's [8]diversity gaffe "insanity."
[9]Diversity, equity, and inclusion is not an illusion, but it soon might be
[10]Trump scrubs all mention of DEI, gender, climate change from federal websites
[11]Women in IT are on a 283-year march to parity, BCS warns
[12]Microsoft pushes for more women in cybersecurity
Lesley Carhart, infosec veteran and director of incident response at Dragos, took to social media to claim influencer culture is exacerbating the industry's deep-seated issues.
"Cybersecurity isn't ready for the conversation about how bad sexism and [13]ageism are in the whole pen test/ [14]red team community, or how influencer culture and the saturated market are enabling it to get worse," she [15]said .
[16]
Digital rights and cybersecurity education professional Michelle L told The Register that the news was "unsurprising" and criticized the men who agreed to partner with TryHackMe's event for not holding the company to account.
"This is unsurprising and sadly shows how normalized it is in tech to erase the work of and isolate women," she said. "Every single one of these men could and should have asked 'who else is involved' and refused to be included if it wasn't balanced.
"But as ever: Ego is the biggest vulnerability in cyber and tech. All this mess and for what? A little picture and a name drop in a publication no one cares about! Everyone fighting for crumbs from a table that they should be flipping over.
"It is why I and others have moved away from tech and cyber events, and even careers. Because we aren't safe, welcome, or paid fairly. I don't care about this calendar but I do care about the many femme-identifying and nonbinary folk that are harmed by the culture it represents." ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/evabenn_exciting-news-for-the-cybersecurity-community-activity-7399129202492493825-vMo9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABgHd_sB-83hxk2aeU84V7xLir_yIF2iCDA
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aSnVKW77M6UudVc5rq9eSAAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSnVKW77M6UudVc5rq9eSAAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSnVKW77M6UudVc5rq9eSAAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7397498536881229825?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28ugcPost%3A7397498536881229825%2C7397688635757871106%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287397688635757871106%2Curn%3Ali%3AugcPost%3A7397498536881229825%29
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSnVKW77M6UudVc5rq9eSAAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7398176889699422208/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/13/diversity_equity_inclusion_tech/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/13/diversity_equity_inclusion_tech/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/03/trump_admin_scrubs_dei_websites/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/20/gender_gap_it_employment/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/21/microsoft_women_cybersecurity/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/21/aws_sued_for_alleged_discrimination/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/13/cisa_red_team_layoffs/
[15] https://infosec.exchange/@hacks4pancakes/115591479480682301
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSnVKW77M6UudVc5rq9eSAAAAMI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Hah.....I see......."Men" are the problem.......
Anonymous Coward
.....just ask SolarWinds or Jaguar Land Rover........
Hmm
codejunky
It sounds like whoever complained should be reported for sexism. Are we not supposed to be gender blind and so as the available line-up was males because females were not available it seems someone went looking for the females which would be discrimination. Just as if they went looking for any other characteristic.
What?
DarkwavePunk
So they did try to invite female security experts but either didn't hear back or they couldn't fit it in their schedule. That and there are a limited number of women in the field with a broad reach. The idea that the men that did accept should have looked into the makeup of the panel and quit in protest because it wasn't diverse enough seems a bit silly.
Influencers
An_Old_Dog
They recruited "influencers" as teachers-of-tech.
WTF?
This is one of those chicken & egg problems: How do you encourage women (or any other group) to join if there are few/no role models in the first place.