GCHQ seeks to increase number of female coders to tackle threats

The agency is working with training organisation Code First Girls, which is also teaching coding to women under arrangements with security contractors, including BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce. Many participants in the programme are women in their late 20s and early 30s deciding to switch careers into technology, said Anna Brailsford, the chief executive of Code First. A recent survey found 80% of women who had gone through the scheme said a career in technology was neither mentioned nor encouraged while they were at school.

Women remain significantly underrepresented in digital technology roles, making up just 18% of workers, according to the most recent Office for National Statistics data.

Brailsford said that with defence intelligence systems increasingly using artificial intelligence and machine learning to replicate human decision making, the importance of reducing bias in the way those systems are designed is crucial to gaining a security advantage.