The global shortage of cybersecurity professionals presents a persistent challenge to cyber resilience and economic prosperity. This dynamic is especially acute in Latin America, where major nations face substantial cybersecurity workforce gaps, and women remain significantly underrepresented. A new report from GCF and Duke University offers insights from women across the region on the obstacles they encounter at each stage of the talent pipeline - and the solutions needed to grow and strengthen the cybersecurity workforce.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 29, 2026: Expanding global efforts to strengthen women’s leadership in cybersecurity, the Global Cybersecurity Forum (GCF) and the United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) have announced the next edition of the Empowering Women to Leadership in Cyber program in cities across the US and Saudi Arabia in 2026.

Existing literature and industry research largely emphasizes theoretical threat models in the telecommunications space, often referencing frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK and GSMA Mobile Threat Intelligence Framework (MoTIF), as well as European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and vendorspecific guidance. However, these frameworks fall short when it comes to evaluating how those threats manifest in real-world telecommunications environments and how detection can be operationalized at scale. To build practical threat detection strategies, this whitepaper sets out to analyze and validate the theoretical landscape– reviewing cited data sources, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs)– and mapping them against the specific needs, telemetry capabilities, and architectures of mobile and other telecommunications service providers.

Global leaders and decision-makers convened at the GCF Annual Meeting 2025 in Riyadh, 1-2 October, calling for greater international collaboration on shared challenges and priorities in Cyberspace, in a time of increasingly complex socioeconomic and geopolitical dynamics.