No Women Allowed? Exploring Gender Differences in Hacking

Architecture and Background

Thomas J. Holt, No Women Allowed? Exploring Gender Differences In Hacking The President of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers, recently suggested the lack of women in the sciences is due to innate differences between men and women. He speculated a variety of reasons for this including genetics and social factors, and his comments created a stir among academics and the general public. While the accuracy of his statements are suspect, he raises an intriguing question in light of declining female enrollment in computer science and engineering degree programs at MIT and other universities. And if women are falling out of these fields, what is happening to the population of female hackers and security professionals?

Vulnerability Analysis

What have their experiences been up to this point? Research suggests men dominate the underground, and sociological research suggests this is attributable to social practices rather than innate sex differences. However, the female hackers' perspective has not been well documented. Furthermore, the existing literature on this issue is based largely on anecdotal rather than empirical evidence. As such, it is necessary to examine the gendered experiences of hackers to expand our knowledge of how these experiences impact individuals and their behavior. The purpose of this talk is to introduce my research agenda to study male and female hackers, and examine variations across gender. During the talk, I will lay out fundamental theoretical concepts used to discuss the different experiences of men and women on and off-line.

Exploitation and Demonstrations

Then I will introduce my research proposal and call for interested individuals to participate in this study. Throughout the presentation, the audience is welcome to share their personal feelings, beliefs, and knowledge about gender and hacking. The start of an open dialogue, whether formal or informal, regarding gender differences in hacking is critical to advance our understanding of this important issue for information technology and the sciences. Tom Holt is completing his Ph. D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte specializing in crime and technology.

Remediation and Defensive Strategies

Much of his graduate career has been spent examining computer crime and cybercrime, especially hackers and hacking. His dissertation research examines the elements that compose the hacker subculture, as well as its' social organization through multiple data sources. Tom has collected various materials to that end, including interviews with active hackers. His primary goal is to understand various social aspects of hacking and the computer underground from the hacker's perspective. Tom has made multiple presentations on these issues in a variety of settings and has a strong interest in moving academic research on computer crime forward in new ways. This includes developing quality statistics on computer crimes to better document these phenomena. He is working with other academic disciplines such as computer science and MIS to gain a more thorough understanding of all manner of computer crime and critical infrastructure protection. Tom also enjoys a good cup of coffee, o.k. cigars, and cheap beer.