Kaspersky, in partnership with Smart Africa and Africaines in Tech, has unveiled a new career orientation test called “Future You in Tech”, designed to inspire young women to explore careers in cybersecurity. The science-backed test aims to highlight professional paths aligned with participants’ interests, skills, and personality traits.
Women remain underrepresented in technology worldwide, making up just 28.2% of the global STEM workforce, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report. Kaspersky and its partners said the initiative is part of a broader effort to lower barriers and foster greater female participation in the cybersecurity sector.
The test guides participants through scenario-based questions to reveal natural problem-solving styles and strengths. After completion, it highlights two of six potential cybersecurity career paths: Threat Intelligence, Security Operations, Malware Analysis, Network Security, Information Security Research, and Security Assessment. Each result comes with explanations and advice from Kaspersky’s female experts, along with recommended next steps, readings, and practical activities.
Evgeniya Russkikh, Head of Academic Affairs at Kaspersky, said: “We strongly recommend young women to take this orientation test — even if you never considered a career in cybersecurity. This test would provide you with unbiased view — while cybersecurity is a field, that requires technical skills development, it also needs curiosity, creativity, problem-solving, and resilience — qualities many young women already have. The test would help one to connect strengths with real career paths, empower to see a future in cybersecurity and to take first steps with confidence.”
Kaspersky noted that women now represent 25% of its global tech workforce, up 6.9 percentage points over four years. The company also runs the Empower Women digital project, which shares expert perspectives, raises awareness of gender-related challenges, and provides practical guidance for fostering inclusive environments in technology.
