Academy fails girls in technology via Abigail Breslin

Educate your daughters, wives, nieces and moms. I don’t want any of the women in your life getting up in front of a glamorous Oscar audience, like Little Miss Sunshine’s Abigail Breslin, to make women look tech-clueless. On Sunday, Breslin admitted that she didn’t know what her father, a computer systems analyst, did for a living. The Academy should be ashamed for writing a script like that just for a laugh. Contributors at my new favorite girl technology blog, She’s Such a Geek, agree.

Women in the technology field — as resellers, consultants, programmers, or IT personnel — are no longer a novelty. Though the field is still male-dominated, there are promising stories of women bucking stereotypes all over the news, and popular culture needs to catch up with that reality. But with this education comes responsibility.

The fact is that women are busting onto the hacking scene against all odds. Hacker Raven Alder started a movement in 2004 (whether she admits that her gender is an issue or not), and just this month, two girls from Ohio hacked into their school’s computer system to post a message that school was cancelled due to snow.

As political theorist Hannah Arendt said, “Do not do what you would undo if caught.” Criminal hackers should take this to heart. But if they don’t, make sure you’re prepared to deal with hackers of all genders, races, and ages at SearchSecurityChannel.com’s hacking tools and techniques topic center.