No Need To Spill The Tea, Your AI Tools Already Did.

Unlock Your HER Era with #75HER

Introducing #75HER:

CreateHER Fest is proud to present the world’s first #75HER Challenge—an exclusive 75-day program designed to empower women in AI/ML, AR/VR, and Blockchain culminating in our annual international women’s day hackathon!

Inspired by the discipline of #75HARD, the #75HER Challenge adapts its signature 75-day framework to the tech space. Instead of fitness routines, participants commit to daily and weekly action in learning, ideation, and building.

How it’ll work:

Leveraging our multi-phase approach, starting January 6th, we’ll have our:

• Learn-a-thon (Jan 6 - Feb 9): Gain essential skills in cutting-edge tech through hands-on workshops

• Idea-thon (Feb 9 - 15): Team up, brainstorm tech solutions, and receive mentorship to create your big ideas

• Hackathon (Feb 15 - Mar 7): Turn ideas into real projects, culminating in our International Women’s Day global showcase.

• Demo Day (Mar 8): The grand finale of CreateHER Fest where each team presents their project to judges for a chance to win prizes.

• Built Out Loud Series (Mar 15 - 31): Celebrate and promote your journey with two weeks of spotlight features.

You don’t have to join every phase. Pick what fits your goals. But if you want to see a true 75-day transformation, we highly recommend the full ride!

Ready to commit? Register today!

Automation Gone Rogue: When Your AI Starts Snitching

AI-powered connectors, linking email, calendar, docs, and more, are driving a new era of productivity for builders, technologists, and community leaders globally. As we launch Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and the CybHER Challenge, we’re sharpening cyberfluency: embracing innovation, and staying vigilant to the unique risks of automation and integration.

What’s Actually Happening: From Research to Real Attack

Recently, security researcher Eito Miyamura and EdisonWatch proved attackers can embed hidden prompts in calendar invites, causing AI connectors (ChatGPT in their case) and integrations to silently leak your data, even if you never accepted the invite. All it takes is your email address; one maliciously injected prompt can trigger data loss without warning. While platforms raced to patch these risks, the landscape has continued evolving fast, and everyone is learning in public.

Why It Matters (and What I Did to Validate the Risk)

In our ecosystem, being first isn’t enough. We must also be thorough. Out of curiosity following the news broke, I even ran my own series of vulnerability explorations—using both ChatGPT and Perplexity—to see if and how real-world tools have attempted to closed their risk gaps, or if the AI tools I personally use could still be manipulated via calendar-based prompt injection:

• Testing methodology: I embedded hidden, actionable prompts into calendar events, mirroring the public exploits, and connected both Perplexity and ChatGPT to a Google Calendar.

• Result with Perplexity: The system flagged and ignored the malicious prompt, and even provided feedback in its “thinking” after recognizing a present threat.

• Result with ChatGPT (post-patch): ChatGPT did not acknowledge or reveal the malicious prompt in its process, nor did it warn me at all LOL. When asked directly, it finally admitted to finding something, but still did not bring it to my attention unless explicitly prompted.

Takeaway: This surface is constantly shifting. Even after patches, platforms differ in transparency and user notification. User awareness and regular “security audits” are essential.

Action for the CHF Community

• Grant minimum access: Only allow necessary calendar/email permissions to your AI and automation 3rd parties, and review & reduce access often.

• Review invites manually: Turn off your calendar’s auto-accept; check invites from unknown senders before adding.

• Human-in-the-Loop: Always require user approval for sensitive actions, like sharing, permissions changes, or mass invites, to balance speed with trust.

• Practice & share security: Test your flows, report vulnerabilities, and follow platform updates.

• Engage: Use CHF’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month resources to build skills and awareness

Extra Tip: Never send sensitive info (like financial, ID, PII, or passwords) over unencrypted email or invites. (The data sits in your inbox, in plain text, for your integrated tools to access!) Use secure channels with multifactor authentication instead.

Community Standard: Innovation with Eyes Wide Open

Empowerment means control, and CHF champions smart tools, WITH human oversight. In the case of risk mitigation, the best defense is a layered approach, blending automation with intentional human oversight and a culture of minimum necessary access. As technology and threats evolve, so should your controls, with the CHF community providing shared learning and rapid adaptation. This is why cyber resilience is not a set-and-forget activity, but a mindset and a lifestyle, because our best innovation is always balanced by our best judgment!

Improving Digital Literacy: The CybHER Challenge Has Begun! 🔐

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is here, and we’ve officially launched the CybHER Challenge, a month-long experience empowering women and allies to strengthen digital confidence, learn cybersecurity best practices, and rise on the leaderboard through weekly missions.

Each week new challenges unlocks to grow your Cyberfluency and earn points towards winning a SANS Institute OnDemand Course Scholarship ($6,500+ value!). Whether you’re new to security or already building in tech, every challenge and task brings you closer to mastering digital hygiene, protecting your data, and strengthening our collective HUMAN FIREWALL.

👉 Join the Challenge →

FEATURING ✨HER

✨Camille Catania, Women of the Future Finalist!

We’re celebrating our very own Camille Catania, CreateHER Fest’s Community Manager and Women Techmakers Ambassador, for being shortlisted as a Finalist for the Women of the Future Awards 2025 in Tech & Digital! 💻

Her work in ethical AI, inclusion, and community leadership continues to inspire from within and beyond, and we couldn’t be prouder! 💖 Congratulate Camille →

✨ Share Your Wins → your wins inspires us Let us celebrate you too!

COMMUNITY SURVEY

Enjoyed it? Share us with your network!

THIS WEEK’S RESOURCES

• Attend CES 2026 for FREE!

  • Attend the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January 6-9th using code KINSEY26 by TODAY October 6. Registration will ask for an Industry Affiliation (Just provide your company’s website, or your employer’s credential/Or if you have your own, a business license/LLC, s). Expires Today Register Here →

• CompTIA SecAI+ Beta Exam

  • CompTIA invites cybersecurity professionals to help pilot its new SecAI+ certification for FREE during the beta period. Passing earns the credential at no cost when it launches in Spring 2026. Apply by October 17; beta closes October 31. Register Here →

• GirlsWhoML x Mozilla Festival 2025 — Call for Participation

  • 2-week virtual program for young women to collect community narratives for an AI art installation at MozFest Barcelona (Nov 7–9, 2025). Great fit if you’re into AI + storytelling; certificate upon completion. Apply / Learn More →

• DevSecCon 2025: AI Security Summit + Developers Challenge

  • Join the Global AI Security Summit on October 22 (Virtual) and take part in the first-ever AI Security Developers Challenge — a fast-paced, creative problem-solving event for global innovators.
    Register Here →

• Google for Startups: GenAI Media Startup School

  • Hands-on training returns October 28 with new sessions for startups and developers exploring Google Cloud’s latest GenAI tools.
    Register Here →

• Rokid Spatial Joy 25: Global AR & AI Development Competition

  • Compete globally in AR + AI innovation — with partners like Google Cloud and Unity — for a ¥2.5M prize pool. Registration open until Nov 23, submissions by Dec 1. Register Here →

Until next time,

Discover \ Design \ Deliver