Scaling Cyber
Europe’s cybersecurity talent gap isn’t just a technical problem. It’s a human capital problem — and one that became dramatically more urgent in 2025, when geopolitical shifts quietly pulled the financial rug out from under the continent’s most active cybersecurity community builder. Anett Mádi-Nátor, President of the Women for Cyber Foundation and Managing Partner at CyEx.hu, joined Scaling Cyber to discuss what it takes to build and sustain an 80,000-member community across 35 countries — and how the foundation navigated its most challenging strategic pivot to date. The Journey: From COVID Startup to European NGO Unicorn Women for Cyber launched in 2019 — just before COVID — with a diverse portfolio of community initiatives. Rather than dictating what the community needed, the team ran what Anett describes as a form of “targeted market research”: launching multiple programs, watching what resonated, and doubling down accordingly. The answer was clear: education, training, and mentorship. Not advocacy. Not events alone. Practical, bottom-up capacity building. Today, Women for Cyber manages 2,500 active mentees through a structured six-month matching program — run by just 1.5 staff members, supported by digital platforms. Fewer than 15 people run the entire foundation. The Market Shift: When US Funding Disappeared Almost Overnight In 2025, a seismic shift hit Women for Cyber’s funding model. With new US political priorities deprioritizing DEI globally, American corporate donations — which had made up 95%+ of W4C’s income — collapsed to below 50% within months. The foundation’s response was not to scale back. It was to restructure. New European corporate partners stepped in. And in doing so, Women for Cyber’s funding crisis became a microcosm of a much larger story: Europe realizing it needs to build its own cybersecurity capacity — independently, urgently, and at scale. “When one door closes, another opens,” Anett notes. “And for Europe, that door is opening now.” Why This Matters Beyond Diversity The conversation reframes the “women in cyber” issue entirely. This isn’t a fairness argument — it’s a strategic one. With cybersecurity talent demand outpacing supply across Europe, excluding 50% of the potential workforce isn’t just inequitable. It’s a security risk. Women for Cyber’s model — inclusive, bottom-up, non-profit — has proven more effective at community building than well-funded institutional programs precisely because it operates without corporate compliance constraints and channels everything back into the mission. Anett also challenges assumptions about where the gender gap actually lives. It’s not primarily in entry-level roles or even founders — it’s in corporate boards and C-suites, where cybersecurity leadership (regardless of gender) is still underrepresented at the highest decision-making levels. What’s Next: Cyber Resilience, AI, and Going Local For 2026, Women for Cyber is pivoting its portfolio toward two new frontiers: cyber resilience (a broader, more operational frame than traditional cybersecurity) and AI-enabled capacity building. The foundation is also leaning harder into local chapter activation — recognizing that physical, local communities are now stronger than purely digital ones in a post-COVID world. The next annual conference will be held in Brussels in September 2026 — a symbolic move to the heart of European institutions. Key Takeaways for Cyber Founders & Leaders * Community-led beats consultant-led. W4C never hired external consultants. Everything came from internal teams and the community — and that’s why it scaled. * The DEI funding shift is a cybersecurity story. The pullback of US support for diversity initiatives has direct, material consequences for European cyber capacity. * The real gap is in boards, not entry-level. For leaders focused on inclusion, the most impactful change happens at the top of established organizations. * Local chapters > central programs. European companies should connect with their national Women for Cyber chapter first — local community building has the highest ROI. * Operational efficiency is a competitive advantage. 2,500 mentees, 1.5 staff. The model is replicable and worth studying. * Cybersecurity is never a one-person show. Anett’s closing line: “It’s always a team effort.” About the Guest Anett Mádi-Nátor is President of the Women for Cyber Foundation, Europe’s largest cybersecurity community with 80,000+ members and 35 national chapters. She is also Managing Partner at CyEx, a CEE-based cybersecurity company. A recognized leader in European cyber policy and capacity building, Anett is driving Women for Cyber’s strategic pivot toward cyber resilience and AI-enabled education for 2026. About Scaling Cyber Europe’s cybersecurity talent gap isn’t just a technical problem. It’s a human capital problem — and one that became dramatically more urgent in 2025, when geopolitical shifts quietly pulled the financial rug out from under the continent’s most active cybersecurity community builder. Anett Mádi-Nátor, President of the Women for Cyber Foundation and Managing Partner at CyEx, joined Scaling Cyber to discuss what it takes to build and sustain an 80,000-member community across 35 countries — and how the foundation navigated its most challenging strategic pivot to date. Subscribe: Substack [https://scalingcyber.substack.com/] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/6ya2wXnAocJvzDfGkAjH8t] | Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scaling-cyber/id1840151010] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ScalingCyberPodcast] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit scalingcyber.substack.com [https://scalingcyber.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]
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