The third annual Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards winners were revealed last night in a fun and inspiring celebration at St Bart’s Brewery in London. The awards celebrate the people, not products, of the cyber security industry. From the best ethical hackers and cybersecurity’s rising stars to the best sales leader and the coveted Godfather/Godmother of security, the categories recognised individuals and teams working hard to protect Britain from cybercrime and raise awareness of security issues.
The free event was a chance for the UK security industry to come together, catch up with familiar faces and meet new ones while enjoying a short awards ceremony compered by the immensely witty Clive Room, Chair of the White Hat Ball Committee, who added a great sense of fun and flair to the event. The winners were branded with titles like Fraud Fighter and Captain Compliance and were awarded substantial trophies they can display proudly at home or at work.
“It can often be a thankless task working in cyber security; and as an industry, we tend to focus on technology and innovation,” said lead organiser of Security Serious Week, Yvonne Eskenzi and co-founder of Eskenzi PR. “The cyber skills gap is a huge issue for this country and an event like this really shows off what a great industry it is to be a part of and the wonderful people that make it. Our fantastic awards night was all made possible by our wonderful sponsors, so we could throw the best party at no charge to enter or attend the awards.”
The Unsung Heroes Awards, started by Eskenzi PR, Smile on Fridays and the IT Security Guru, are supported by sponsors Canon, CREST, CyberArk, Cybereason, Gigamon, Intelisecure, Janrain, Operatix, Publicis Groupe and Mimecast, who all make it possible to hold this totally free event.
Stuart Coulson, business engagement manager for Cyber Security Challenge UK, said “The event was a great networking opportunity and the awards are a superb way of recognising the hard work that those on the ground are doing in this industry. It is important to have these kinds of awards to inspire others and to continue working towards our wider goal of a bigger, more diverse cyber industry”.
Brian Higgins, ISSA-UK, concluded:“Not only was it a great honour to be invited to Judge the Unsung Heroes Awards for Eskenzi this year, it was purely awesome to see so many truly unsung heroes receive their well-deserved accolades at the ceremony last night. From engineers to theatre companies, I can’t think of another info sec event that truly celebrates the incredible diversity of Cyber talent in our professional community. I’d hate to be working at Eskenzi right now. They have to top it all next year!!!!!”
The full list of winners are:
Apprentice/Rising Star
Runner up: Katie Burnell, Dtex Systems
Winner: Millie Coombes, Plymouth University
Best Cyber Security Sales Leader
Runner up: Justin Shaw-Gray, Synack
Winner: Mark Coates, Dtex Systems
Best Educator
Runner up: Prof Carlos Cid, Royal Holloway University
Winner: Prof Natalie Coull, Abertay University
Best Ethical Hacker/Pentester
Winner: Gemma Moore, Cyberis
Best Security Awareness Campaign
Runner up: Institution of Civil Engineers – “Shaping a digital world”
Winner: Cyberscene – Theatre Royal Haymarket Masterclass Trust/Kidscape/Pureland Foundation
Captain Compliance
Winner: Simon Onyons, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
CISO Supremo
Winner: Andrew Sands, BBC
Winner: Denis Onuoha, Arqiva
Winner: Lee Barney, Net A Porter
Cyber Writer
Runner up: Tony Morbin, SC Magazine
Winner: Danny Palmer, ZDnet
Data Guardian
Runner up: Toyin Adelakun, Trusthaus
Winner: James Arden, TalkTalk
Fraud Fighter
Winner: Helen Williams, TITAN
Winner: Jennie Williams, TITAN
Godfather/Godmother of Security
Runner up: Charlie McMurdie, PwC
Winner: Ian Glover, CREST
SecDevOps Trailblazer
Winner: Meera Rao, Synopsys
Winner: Allan Yung, Immersive Labs
Security Avengers
Runner up: City of London Crime Prevention Association
Winner: The Paranoids (Oath)
Security Leader/Mentor
Runner up: Jitender Arora, Deloitte
Winner: Nicola Whiting, Titania
For more information, to speak to any of the winners or to register your interest for next year, please contact: [email protected]
