We have finally arrived at a point in this seven-part Star Trek franchise series, centering around a show that is currently airing in Star Trek: Discovery. Twelve years after the completion of Star Trek: Enterprise, Discovery debuted in 2017, and the fifth season is set to debut in early 2023 on Paramount+.

The Star Trek series has always been fairly good about incorporating fictional alien races into the science fiction series to go along with their human counterparts. That has increased as the series has progressed over the years. What Star Trek hasn’t always done a great job of us is diversifying its cast. We have come a long way from the token secondary cast members of color (Lieutenant Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, and Lieutenant Sulu, played by George Takei) in the original Star Trek series in the late 1960s that were otherwise surrounded by almost all Caucasian men.

Fast forward nearly 50 years to the start of Discovery, where the crew was captained by an Asian woman in Philippa Georgiou (played by Michelle Yeoh), a black woman second in command in Michael Burnham (played by Sonequa Martin-Green), and a Kelpien named Saru, third in command and one of several aliens in the primary cast. In addition, Chief Engineer Paul Stamets (played by Anthony Rapp) and Chief Medical Officer Hugh Culber (played by Wilson Cruz) are both gay and take part in an on-board romance throughout the show. In the two most recent seasons, the introduction of a non-binary character, Adira Tal (played by Blu del Barrio), and their transgender partner, Gray (played by Ian Alexander), have also been added to what is by far and away the most diverse cast in Star Trek history.

So what’s the big deal? Why is this important? Should it matter? The answer is yes, it should. Star Trek has had fans of all ages, genders, and races for decades, but many of the characters they saw on screen didn’t look like them or represent them. More on that here. To get to see this type of diversity happening now is inspiring, and it’s representative of the United States and many other countries’ populations. We, as a society, are becoming more diverse. That needs to be reflected in entertainment and in all industries that we either work in or enjoy taking part in.

What does this all have to do with cybersecurity? Well, in case you hadn’t taken a look around on your latest Zoom calls or in the office at other colleagues – this industry is not exempt from lack of diversity. The majority of cybersecurity professionals are Caucasian men. Is that changing? Yes. But not at a fast enough rate, especially when one out of every three jobs in cybersecurity remains open. Only 24% of the global cybersecurity workforce are women, and only 20% are people of color. More on inclusive security from our 2022 RSAC sessions here.

We need to attract new and different kinds of talent into the cybersecurity industry. It’s critical to its survival, and it’s important for us all. It’s bringing in more folks like Taylor Rainey, a non-binary cybersecurity graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, whom we caught up with at RSAC 2022.

Diversity is the spice of life. And just as most of us don’t care for bland food, we also shouldn’t settle for bland ways of thinking or similar upbringings, or a work call full of people who look and sound and act … just like you. The inclusion of variations among us makes us all stronger … together.

Note: This is part six of a seven-part series looking at the primary Star Trek franchise television series:
Part 1: To Boldly Go Where No One (or No Ransomware) Has Gone Before
Part 2: Star Trek: TNG Foreshadows Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Part 3: Stark Trek: DS9 Training and Awareness in a Remote Outpost
Part 4: Supply Chain Issues Abound Across the Galaxy in Star Trek: Voyager
Part 5: Star Trek: Enterprise Kicks It Old School with Passwords