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DEIB and cybersecurity: protecting diverse employees from online harassment
In today’s digital world, ensuring cybersecurity isn’t just about safeguarding company data; it’s also about protecting the people who work for you. With the rise of remote work and digital communication, online harassment has become a growing concern, especially for employees who belong to diverse backgrounds.
You might wonder, how can companies truly protect their diverse workforce from the threat of online harassment. The key lies in understanding how Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) intersect with cybersecurity. If you’re unfamiliar, let’s explore the DEIB meaning and how integrating it with cybersecurity can foster a safer and more inclusive work environment.
The intersection of DEIB and cybersecurity
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging—what does it all mean in the context of cybersecurity? At its core, DEIB is about creating an environment where everyone feels valued and safe. This environment extends beyond physical spaces into the digital realm.
As companies increasingly depend on online platforms for communication and collaboration, they must recognize that threats to DEIB can manifest through cyberbullying, targeted harassment, and other forms of online abuse.
For many organizations, the link between DEIB and cybersecurity might not be immediately apparent. However, consider this: if a company’s cybersecurity measures don’t account for the specific vulnerabilities that diverse employees may face, they are at risk of feeling marginalized or unsafe.
For example, someone’s gender, race, or sexual orientation might make them a target for online harassment. Ensuring that cybersecurity policies consider these factors is crucial in providing a safe space for everyone.
Understanding the nature of online harassment
Online harassment can take many forms. It might be an employee receiving abusive messages based on their identity, or malicious attempts to hack into personal accounts. Unfortunately, individuals from marginalized communities are more likely to face such harassment.
So, what does this mean for your organization? It means that a one-size-fits-all approach to cybersecurity isn’t enough. Instead, understanding the unique challenges that diverse employees face can help tailor protective measures more effectively.
As we delve deeper into this, we need to acknowledge that online harassment can also lead to mental and emotional distress, impacting an individual’s performance and well-being. Cybersecurity isn’t just about protecting information; it’s also about safeguarding people.
By integrating DEIB principles into cybersecurity strategies, companies can create a comprehensive approach that addresses both the technical and human aspects of online safety.
Strategies to Protect Diverse Employees from Online Harassment
- Implement Inclusive Cybersecurity Policies
Start by ensuring your cybersecurity policies are inclusive. This means acknowledging that different groups face different risks. Regularly update these policies to reflect the evolving nature of online threats. Training sessions on recognizing and responding to harassment should be part of the cybersecurity strategy, ensuring that all employees are aware of the support systems in place.
2. Foster an Open and Safe Reporting Culture
Creating a culture where employees feel safe to report harassment is essential. Often, victims of online harassment may fear retaliation or not being taken seriously. Anonymity in reporting and assurance of swift, unbiased actions can encourage more employees to come forward. Leadership must show commitment to addressing these issues.
3. Utilize Advanced Technology
Leveraging technology to detect and prevent online harassment can be a game-changer. Tools that monitor communications for harmful content and AI-driven algorithms that identify harassment patterns can act as an early warning system. However, it’s essential to strike a balance—employees should feel protected, not surveilled.
4. Provide Support Systems
It’s not just about preventing harassment; it’s also about providing support when it does occur. Offering counseling services, mentorship programs, and creating support groups can help affected employees feel seen and heard. Knowing there is a support system in place can make a significant difference in how harassment impacts individuals.
Building a safer future with DEIB
As organizations continue to adapt to an increasingly digital landscape, understanding the DEIB meaning becomes crucial in shaping policies that protect not just company assets, but also the people who help the company thrive. By embedding DEIB principles into cybersecurity frameworks, companies can demonstrate a commitment to creating an inclusive environment that goes beyond mere compliance.
Creating a Cybersecurity Culture of Inclusion
In a world where online interactions are integral to our work life, integrating DEIB with cybersecurity isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity. By protecting our diverse workforce from online harassment, we’re not only fulfilling a moral obligation but also fostering a workplace where every individual feels valued and safe. So, let’s take the next step towards a future where diversity is celebrated, equity is prioritized, inclusion is standard, and belonging is a given.
Perimenopause misinformation on social media is putting women at risk of unintended pregnancies, unnecessary medication and missed diagnoses, experts have said.
Awareness of menopause and treatments such as hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, has been raised by efforts including a prominent documentary by Davina McCall.
But as a growing number of women encounter misleading information on social media, there are concerns that some could be led to false conclusions that can obscure real underlying health difficulties.
“Everyone thinks they’re menopausal,” said Dr Paula Briggs, a consultant in sexual and reproductive health.
“So we are seeing younger and younger women asking for HRT when what they need is hormonal contraception, as they’re still fertile.
“I work in an abortion service and we’re seeing more women over 35 now who believe themselves to be menopausal and are gobsmacked when they become pregnant.”
According to the British Menopause Society, more than 80 per cent of women will be menopausal by the age of 54, meaning they have not had a period for 12 months or more, with about 5 per cent reaching menopause before the age of 45.
But menopause is not a sudden stop. Instead, women go through a transition known as perimenopause over months or years.
During this time, hormone levels fluctuate and can cause symptoms such as changes in menstrual patterns, hot flushes and difficulty sleeping.
Briggs said misinformation around perimenopause is concerning.
“I look at things like Instagram to see what they are exposed to and I am horrified,” she said, citing examples of women in their 30s being told to demand HRT if they are unable to sleep or are struggling with migraines, and to switch GPs if denied.
Or women being told they should seek testosterone treatment.
“I’m not anti any of these things in the right person, but females produce their own testosterone lifelong, even women without ovaries, so the idea that everybody has to demand testosterone is bonkers,” Briggs said.
Dr Channa Jayasena, an expert in reproductive endocrinology at Imperial College London, also raised concerns.
“It’s great that there’s better [public] awareness [about perimenopause]. And I think many doctors are completely unaware about how debilitating the symptoms of perimenopause can be,” he said.
“But the flipside of that, I think there’s a risk that some women are being mislabelled as having perimenopause when they have other things that are wrong.”
Prof Janice Rymer, chair of the British Menopause Society, agreed.
“[If you are] having regular periods naturally, then you’re not perimenopausal, end of story. You’ve got good hormone levels,” she said.
Rymer added that there is a perception that any symptom affecting women between the ages of 40 and 60 is due to perimenopause or menopause and that HRT is required.
“I think HRT is completely wonderful,” Rymer said. But, she added, “it’s not for women who don’t need it,” noting that in such situations it can cause heavy bleeding.
Briggs said a key concern arising from misinformation around perimenopause is that women are stopping contraception, thinking it is no longer needed.
Jayasena suggested that could be because of messaging around how fertility declines with age.
“I think we’ve got a real awareness about the timelines for optimum fertility and optimum response for IVF. IVF stops working well beyond the age of 42. It’s easy to translate that to an assumption that you can’t get pregnant naturally, when actually you can,” he said.
Experts have also raised concerns over a pushback against hormonal contraception, something that is particularly acute among younger women, even though demand for HRT is growing.
While they stress contraception is not a one-size-fits-all issue, Briggs noted there are many progestogen-only contraceptives, which use a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone, that can be used alongside HRT to protect against pregnancy while managing symptoms associated with perimenopause.
In addition, she said, there are modern forms of the combined pill that are safer for use in women experiencing perimenopause than traditional combined pills, as they contain a natural form of oestrogen.
Essentially, said Jayasena, “it’s a mini pill plus a bit of HRT.”
Dr Zara Haider, president of the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, said misinformation is a significant issue, particularly around fertility and hormone use.
She said: “We still see women stopping contraception too early because they assume they can’t get pregnant, when in reality contraception is needed until menopause is confirmed or until age 55.
“There’s also been a lasting impact from outdated or flawed studies around risks like breast cancer, which has understandably made some women cautious about hormones.
“At the same time, it’s positive that public conversations, including high-profile campaigns, have helped bring menopause into the mainstream.
“The challenge now is making sure women are getting accurate, evidence-based information to make informed decisions.”
An early PET scan after one cycle of chemotherapy may help predict how aggressive breast cancer responds to treatment, a study suggests.
Research led by The Institute of Cancer Research, London and King’s College London suggests that an early scan taken after one cycle of chemotherapy could help predict how well a patient’s cancer will respond to treatment.
The study focused on patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form of the disease in which cancer cells lack receptors for the hormones oestrogen and progesterone, as well as the HER2 protein.
Patients with TNBC are usually treated with chemotherapy prior to surgery. While many respond well, residual disease at surgery, typically around six months later, is associated with a significantly poorer prognosis. Identifying people sooner who are unlikely to respond remains a major clinical challenge.
The research explored whether using PET imaging shortly after treatment begins, rather than relying only on MRI scans later in the treatment process, could provide earlier insight into how a patient’s cancer is responding. Twenty-two patients were recruited, with fourteen undergoing FDG-PET scans before treatment and after the first cycle of chemotherapy.
The findings, published in Clinical Cancer Research, showed that changes seen on PET scans after just one cycle of chemotherapy were strongly associated with subsequent response, including whether there was no detectable cancer, known as a complete response, by the end of treatment. Importantly, early PET response showed stronger associations with treatment outcomes than standard mid-treatment MRI scans in this study.
Being able to identify patients who are not responding well at an early stage could allow clinicians to adjust treatment sooner or consider alternative approaches. These findings may also support future strategies to better tailor treatment intensity to individual patients.
The study also compared two types of PET tracers, FDG and FLT, to determine which was most suitable. While both met the study’s technical criteria, FDG-PET was selected for further evaluation due to its better image quality, greater consistency and wider use in clinical practice.
The research also explored how imaging changes after just one cycle of chemotherapy relate to the body’s immune response to treatment. Biopsies taken before and after the first cycle of chemotherapy showed that an increase in immune cells within the tumour was strongly associated with both early PET changes and improved treatment outcomes.
The researchers emphasise that these findings now need to be validated in larger studies. Future work will aim to confirm these results in broader patient groups and explore more accessible imaging approaches, such as ultrasound, alongside PET and MRI.
Sheeba Irshad, professor of cancer immunology at King’s College London and lead of the Breast Cancer Now KCL Research Unit, said:
“In patients who had PET scans both before treatment and after the first cycle, we found that this early scan could predict whether they were likely to achieve a complete response by the end of treatment. These findings highlight the potential of early imaging to guide treatment decisions, and now need to be validated in larger, modern clinical trials.”
Andrew Tutt, professor of breast oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:
“Research that helps us determine early who is already benefitting from standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy and who might benefit from clinical trials to find better treatments is vital. This study shows that FDG-PET may have great value in this regard. We hope to be able to design studies that further investigate and validate these findings.”
The study was supported by funding from King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Breast Cancer Now, Cancer Research UK, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity.
We are excited unveil the three finalists competing for one of the Femtech World Awards’ most coveted honours: the Startup of the Year Award, sponsored by Future Fertility.
This award celebrates an early-stage company making a bold impact in women’s health through innovation, vision and execution.
The winner will be announced at our virtual ceremony on 19 June, with the decision made by a representative from category sponsor Future Fertility.
Congratulations to the shortlist and thank you to everyone who entered or nominated.
Startup of the Year Shortlist
Hello Inside is the first women’s health AI company to turn daily metabolic signals into outcomes women feel and healthcare systems reimburse.
Women’s health has long been under-researched, and current AI benchmarks fail on women’s health questions roughly sixty percent of the time.
Hello Inside built the architecture to close that gap.
Across four years and 12,000+ validated metabolic profiles, three in four women improve at least one symptom within ninety days.
They lose four kilograms in three months, moving from overweight into the healthy range. In a clinical study with Alisa Vitti’s Flo Living, 91.9 per cent reduced PMS burden within sixty days.
U-Ploid is an early-stage biotechnology company tackling one of the most fundamental challenges in fertility care: the sharp, age-related decline in egg quality that limits outcomes across IVF and egg freezing.
While much of the field focuses on improving assessment and selection, U-Ploid is developing a first-in-class therapeutic approach designed to improve egg quality itself by addressing the biological causes of age-related chromosomal errors.
Supported by strong preclinical evidence and now advancing into human studies, U-Ploid combines scientific rigour, regulatory discipline and long-term vision to help redefine what is possible in fertility care.
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