Aquia Inc.’s Maril Vernon Recognized as One of Top 10 Women Championing Cybersecurity by The Cyber Express

The Cyber Express's "CyberSHEcurity" list recognizes women breaking cybersecurity barriers, creating a more inclusive and equitable workplace, and inspiring others along the way

MILLSBORO, Del., March 8, 2023 -- Aquia Inc., a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) specializing in cloud and cybersecurity professional services, celebrates the recognition of Maril Vernon, Aquia senior application security architect, in The Cyber Express’s “CyberSHEcurity Top 10 Championing Women in Cybersecurity.”

The March 2023 edition of The Cyber Express focuses on women who are breaking cybersecurity barriers and inspiring others along the way. According to the publication, The Cyber Express believes that increasing the representation of women in cybersecurity is essential for building a strong and diverse workforce that can effectively address the complex cybersecurity challenges of today and the future.

"Women are underutilized and underrepresented in security,” said Maril Vernon, Aquia senior application security architect. “We are seen as a disadvantage by most departments and organizations because of our emotional nature — but human beings are ‘feeling beings that think’ not ‘thinking beings that feel.’ Women have a powerful, innate ability to leverage our emotional side and put the human factor back into security. We’re creative thinkers who fiercely advocate for our work. We forge champions in our passion, create allies in our empathy, and encourage collaboration and innovation in our pursuits. That is what is going to drive security forward.”

In addition to her work at Aquia, Maril is the co-founder of The Cyber Queens podcast, which aims to build a “sisterhood of cyber” and address the inherent bias and limiting beliefs that exist — especially in women — when it comes to cybersecurity. She also serves as VP of Marketing at Teach Kids Tech, a non-profit organization with a mission to empower and educate youth through technology.

At Aquia and beyond, Maril plays a key role in promoting the concept of purple teaming — a niche and collaborative approach to security testing that blends red and blue teams to enhance cyber resilience in the existing threat landscape. You can read her recent blog post on the topic here.

View The Cyber Express’s “CyberSHEcurity Top 10 Championing Women in Cybersecurity” in its entirety in the March 2023 issue of the magazine.