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Major Incident: You’ve Been Breached!

Major Incident: You’ve Been Breached!

Think your accounts are safe? Think again. Inside: must-know defenses, ways to protect your team, how innovators are building safer tech for women, and a peek at the future of Blockchain in Miami.

Darlyze Calixte & Adriann Guy
September 02, 2025

THIS ISSUE AT A GLANCE

It’s Giving Unsecure → Major breaches hit even the biggest names—here’s how you can stay protected with Adriann’s top tips.
Featuring HER: Professor Omneya Attalah → Meet the team making breakthroughs in AI and Breast Cancer Detection
Miami Bound! → Meet our VIP ticket winners for Blockchain Futurist Miami—and find out how you can still join us with general admission tickets.
Get Involved → Volunteer for our Cyber Awareness Month (Sept-Oct)

SECURITY ALERT: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Please…Don’t be them.

Yesterday, September 1st, was International Women in Cyber Day—a day recognizing women leading in information security and a call to action for even more to align in shaping a safer digital world together. The urgency? Just last month, Google exposed over 2.5 billion users after hackers breached its Salesforce cloud, leaking data on millions of businesses. Cyber attacks blend social engineering (like fake IT requests) with technical exploits (like malicious apps, and deceptive login page) to sidestep even two-factor authentication.

2025’s largest password leak dumped over 16 billion usernames and passwords, from platforms like Facebook and Apple through infostealer malware; impacting everyone from global firms to independent creators. If tech giants are vulnerable, so is every team and project, proving that all contributors at any level have a powerful role, and responsibility, in collective cyber defense.

👉 Read the full breakdown on how leaks happen—and how to stop them →

Quick Takeaways

Most breaches start small: reused passwords, skipped updates, unchecked collaboration rules.
Every contributor matters: spotting risks, setting sharing rules, and raising questions early makes a difference.
Design with Security in mind: Just because the word “Security” is not in your job title, doesn’t mean its not an overall shared responsibility.

Community Poll: Where Do You Struggle Most?

Which security best practice is the hardest to keep up while building?

Vote to shape next month’s toolkit Cybersecurity Awareness Month!

✨ Take action today: change one major password, enable MFA, and invite a peer to do the same.
Read more + get free tools →

Get Involved in Cybersecurity Awareness Month

We’re building next month’s lineup of workshops, panels, and community activations—and we want your voice at the table.

🔧 Are you interested in…

Volunteering with our team
Hosting a technical workshop
Partnering with CreateHER Fest
Collaborating on resources or events

Fill out our quick interest form and help us shape Cybersecurity Awareness Month together!

FEATURING HER: Professor Omneya Attallah

Professor Omneya Attalah

The BrAID project, created by Professor Omneya Attallah and her team, has been recognized as a winner of the 2025 Women’s Impact Award by the Falling Walls Foundation.

BrAID is a groundbreaking, portable, and painless diagnostic tool powered by artificial intelligence that detects breast cancer biomarkers noninvasively and affordably. This innovation is designed to overcome barriers in traditional diagnostics—such as radiation exposure, invasiveness, and cost—making life-saving early diagnosis accessible to women in underserved regions.

The award spotlights how BrAID is bringing equitable healthcare solutions to women globally and advancing gender equity in science and technology.

ANNOUCING BLOCKCHAIN FUTURIST VIP WINNERS!

Let’s celebrate Blossom Smith and Vanessa Saunders, the winners of our two VIP tickets to Blockchain Futurist! 🌟 Huge congrats to both!

Weren’t selected for VIP? We still got you! Even if you weren’t selected, we’ve got a general ticket with YOUR name on it! If you’re interested in joining us at Blockchain Futurist in Miami, be sure to sign up today!

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THIS WEEK’S RESOURCES

Open Source Bootcamp
- Hosted by OnlyDust, this free bootcamp is designed for developers new to open source. Expect practical sessions on networking, career tips, success stories, mastering GitHub, making your first pull request, choosing the right repositories, and picking up your first open-source issue. September 25th. Register Here →
Work at Google Deepmind
- Google DeepMind seeks a Developer Relations Engineer to bridge engineering, product, and community. The role focuses on empowering developers, supporting AI product launches, and building a thriving GenAI ecosystem. Ideal for candidates with deep technical expertise, strong communication skills, and a passion for advancing AI. Apply by September 8th! Apply Here →
Google Apprenticeship Program
- Applications are now open for Google’s 18-month U.S. apprenticeship program, launching March 2026! This paid opportunity features immersive onboarding, on-the-job team training, role-specific learning, and career workshops. Complete the program and earn a U.S. Department of Labor–certified credential. Apply Here →
Shodan Search
- Known as the “search engine for the Internet of everything,” use it to see what parts of your project are publicly reachable and spot misconfigurations; you can also set alerts with Shodan Monitor Run a quick search →