This year’s Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards uncovered and celebrated the individuals and teams that go above and beyond to make the UK a safer place to do business, as well as share and spread their expertise far and wide. The sponsors included KnowBe4, Check Point Software, ThinkCyber, The Zensory, Hornetsecurity and Pulse Conferences.
Mollie Chard, head of cyber defence at OVO Energy, was the runner-up for the Cyber Writer and OVO won the Security Avengers category for best security team. The IT Security Guru caught up with Mollie to find out a bit more about her role and some more thoughts on the cybersecurity industry.
What does your job role entail?
MC: I lead the Cyber Defence department at OVO, comprising two teams: Cyber Defence Operations and Attack Surface Management. The former focuses on incident and threat detection and response, and the latter focuses on attack surface risk reduction. Outside of my day job, I spend a lot of my time writing – predominantly security and inclusion blogs and articles – aiming to demystify security concepts and raise awareness about inclusion and the industry as a whole. I’ve been writing voluntarily for many years.
Why is community in cyber so important?
MC: A strong community effort focused on collaboration and transparency can help improve security resilience as a whole. Putting it bluntly, the more we know, the more prepared we can be. Sharing knowledge and experiences can inspire and educate others (a worthy goal in and of itself). However, it also helps to increase awareness of the global threat landscape, which can help improve detection and response capabilities.
What does it mean to you to be an ‘Unsung Hero’?
MC: This award means a hell of a lot to me personally. There are many awards out there in the security industry – many of which are pay-to-play or depend on someone’s popularity via a voting mechanism. I’ve never thought that these awards are that meaningful. The Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards are incredibly valuable because they recognize anyone in the industry at any stage of their career, judging submissions on their own merits (not whether they can afford to be nominated or have x number of votes). I’ve written security content on LinkedIn and blogging platforms for years voluntarily, purely because I love to write and I love to help others through my writing. Writing is incredibly important to me. It’s not just a means of expression; it’s actually therapeutic. It is a way for me to get the thoughts, learnings, and stories out of my own head, to quieten the noise. I also see it as a form of service to those who read. Whenever I write, I have the ability to try and impact others positively, to help them learn, understand, be seen, or be heard. Words can be extremely powerful when used in the right ways.
