This week, ESET announced and presented the winner of its 2018 ESET Women in Cybersecurity Scholarship during the Securing Our Cyber Future: SafetyNet® Symposium at the Qualcomm headquarters in San Diego, Calif.
Betta Lyon-Delsordo from Missoula, Montana, was the winner of the $5,000 award and will put the funds towards her computer sciences studies at the University of Montana.
Lyon-Delsordo, an Honor Roll student, three-time winner of Montana’s National Center for Women Technology “Aspirations in Computing Award,” and founder of a club that teaches middle school girls computer programming, will start as a freshman in fall of 2018. Lyon-Delsordo has aspirations to start her own cybersecurity business in her home state of Montana along with other women. Recognizing the lack of women in the field, Lyon-Delsordo demonstrates determination with an impressive track record of leadership and resolve.
“It was through teaching young girls to code that I first developed my interest in cybersecurity,” said Delsordo. “I want to continue to be a mentor and show girls like these that they can succeed in the tech world.”
The ESET Women in Cybersecurity Scholarship was designed to encourage and empower women – an underrepresented segment of talent in the industry – to pursue a career in cybersecurity.
“It’s amazing to see how many young women are so passionate about this field and really want to do some good in the world with the technology skills that they are developing,” said Celeste Blodgett, vice president of human resources at ESET. “There is no doubt that Betta will be a future innovator and leader in this space, and if we can play a small part in helping, it makes what we do here at ESET worthwhile.”
When ESET had an idea to create the ESET Women in Cybersecurity Scholarship, it had no idea it would receive the kind of interest it has. What started in 2016 with inviting a few local universities in San Diego to invite its students to apply has turned into a nationwide program.
The ESET Women in Cybersecurity Scholarship is one of the many initiatives ESET has created to support diversity in the workplace and cybersecurity education. ESET helps host the annual Cyber Boot Camp, and supports a number of organizations including Girls Inc., Promises2Kids, MinervaTech and more.
About the ESET Women in Cybersecurity Scholarship
The ESET Women in Cybersecurity Scholarship was launched in 2016 to help support and encourage women that aspire to have a career in information security. Applicants must be a female enrolled in or accepted to an accredited undergraduate or graduate program in the United States with a minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA. In 2018, applicants were asked to complete a two-part essay and include a letter of recommendation. Judging was conducted by the ESET Scholarship Selection Committee. More information on the qualifying process can be found here.
About ESET
For 30 years, ESET has been developing industry-leading IT security software and services for businesses and consumers worldwide. With solutions ranging from endpoint and mobile security to encryption and two-factor authentication, ESET’s high-performing, easy-to-use products give consumers and businesses the peace of mind to enjoy the full potential of their technology. ESET unobtrusively protects and monitors 24/7, updating defenses in real time to keep users safe and businesses running without interruption. Evolving threats require an evolving IT security company. Backed by R&D centers worldwide, ESET was the first IT security company to earn 100 Virus Bulletin VB100 awards, identifying every single “in-the-wild” malware without interruption since 2003. For more information, visit www.eset.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
ESET Media Contact:
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ESET North America
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