Malika Mataeva was born and raised in Grozny, Chechnya. Despite the war, she graduated from school with honors and started studying at the Faculty of History. While pursuing her studies, she initially worked as a music teacher at a school and later as an “IT specialist” in a construction company, as she had completed one of the first computer courses in the post-war period. At the age of 18, she fled to Austria with her husband. While her refugee status was being processed, she took care of her children and learned German. Once all three children were in school and kindergarten, she began studying computer science at the University of Vienna at the age of 25. During her studies, she worked as a software developer at Bosch. After several years at Bosch, Malika decided to change companies to focus not only on development but also on data security. She worked for 3 years at Coredat Business Solutions as a software developer and Data Security Manager, where she coordinated the preparation for ISO9001 and ISO27001 audits. After that, she made the decision to fully transition into the security field, which she did successfully. Since February of last year, she has been working as a Cyber Security Engineer at WKO Inhouse GmbH, which is part of the Austrian Economic Chambers. As the only woman among five men, Malika Mataeva is responsible for the security of the Austrian economy. Being the first woman in this team, she represents the one percent of women in the Cyber Security field in Austria. She uses her position to serve as a role model and motivate girls and women to pursue careers in IT.

Malika has come a long way: from being a refugee without knowledge of German to becoming a Cyber Security expert.