A group that gives women the opportunity to engage with cyber security has its first Norwich meet up this week.

Eastern Daily Press: The Ladies of Norwich Hacking Society will meet every third Thursday of the month. Photo: Courtesy of Natasha HalesThe Ladies of Norwich Hacking Society will meet every third Thursday of the month. Photo: Courtesy of Natasha Hales (Image: Natasha Hales)

The Ladies of Norwich Hacking Society (LNHS) will meet for the first time at 6.30pm on Thursday, March 21 at Norwich City College.

With a focus on technical knowledge and learning, each meet up will follow a stage of Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, the chain of events that a hacker has to complete in order to deploy a cyber-attack.

Members will complete virtual cyber labs on the night, with activities ranging from finding vulnerabilities to tracing a hacker's steps through a system to find out what happened in the event of a security breach.

Natasha Hales, 34, a computing lecturer at City College Norwich, started the group after approaching the director of the Ladies of London Hacking Society (LLHS) to ask for advice.

LLHS were able to share their framework and with their help Mrs Hales was able to found a Norwich group.

Mrs Hales said: 'Although I am a computer scientist, I am a relative newcomer to the field of cyber security.

'I work very hard to increase my own skills and knowledge through lectures, conferences, reading, online study and learning from others.

'I have found that through my journey there have been a number of amazing experts that have helped me, but I couldn't help but notice they were nearly all men.

'I wanted to create a group where women like myself could learn and share cyber security knowledge together in an open forum, where it was okay not to know everything and asking questions was welcomed.'

While the society is primarily for women, Mrs Hales explained the group would not be excluding men entirely.

She said: 'To exclude anyone altogether would be to exclude valuable knowledge and support, but it is important to create a space that women feel safe and comfortable to learn in together and explore technical security.

'We welcome men to help us support the cause and male industry professionals are welcome to attend to give a talk, presentation or act in a mentoring capacity, subject to vetting.

'I look forward to hearing from anyone who feels they can contribute in that way.'

Ladies of Norwich Hacking Society will meet every third Thursday of the month, you can find their meetup.com page here.