Amid the rise of the AI evolution, women make up a large share of the cybersecurity workforce, strengthening diversity in one of the fastest-growing sectors. Hence, the global Cybersecurity Woman of the Year Awards ceremony celebrates the substantial contributions of outstanding female cybersecurity professionals who are bringing high-impact digital security to retain safer digital categories. The nomination process falls under 7 categories for broadening the horizons of this well-deserved award.
In the 2023 edition, Abeer Khedr, Head of Cyber Security at the National Bank of Egypt, joins the selection committee to carry out the nomination process to select the shortlisted winners of the global Cybersecurity Woman of the Year Awards.
Abeer brings more than 25 years of experience in technology and information security. She is also the first appointed Chairperson of the Cyber Security Committee of the Federation of Egyptian Banks, which was established in July 2021. Assuming the position of Chief Information Security Officer, she has led the cyber security program for the bank amid the massive digital banking transformation. She was championed for taking part in several community initiatives both locally and regionally.
In cooperation with Egypt’s Information Technology Institute, she designed the NBE cyber academy’s curriculum to scale up the knowledge of qualified caliber in different cyber-related specializations in Egypt. Prior to joining NBE, Abeer has been leading the security consulting and IT audit service lines at Deloitte- Egypt serving different industries.
Realizing her remarkable role, the Top 50 Women Forum awarded Abeer has been recently awarded among the Top 50 influential women in Egypt for community work related to the cyber security industry.
She was named to Egypt’s 30 successful women list in the Egyptian Women Forum 2020. She has also been named a leader in the cyber security category for the Middle East in CIO Middle East 2022 awards. Additionally, Abeer was recognized among leading information security government leaders & executives in the ME by the CISO council in Dubai in 2018, and as a Woman Security Leader in 2018, and 2016 respectively. Abeer received various global recognitions as “CISO of the year” in 2016, 2021, 2019, 2018, and 2022.
Abeer was selected among the panel of judges for IFSEC 2019 which selects global cyber security influencers and in 2021 as a permanent member of the judging committee that selects IFSEC global cyber security influencer of the year.
As a dedicated professional, she brings the value of diversity and inclusion to cybersecurity teams. Accordingly, Abeer co-founded the Women in Cyber Security Middle East Group of more than 2100 regional members in 2018 to support female cybersecurity professionals from different countries of the Middle East. Abeer has also supported the organization of the first Capture the Flag competition for women in the MENA region in Cairo in 2018, which witnessed the participation of almost 50 women.
