Winners of the first Cyber Outstanding Security Performance Awards (Cyber OSPAs) have been announced; at an appropriately virtual awards ceremony.
As with the OSPAs more generally, these celebrate the achievements of finalists and winners alike. Prof Martin Gill, pictured, of Perpetuity Research, founder of the OSPAs, hosted the awards ceremony with assistance from judges and sponsors. In an opening address, Martin noted surprise at the amazingly high level of response received – especially in the first year. He thanked all those who had made the inaugural awards such a success.
An international panel of judges were nominated by cyber security associations – all of whom marked to a published ethics policy. Martin said that the judges had no easy task in reviewing the many nominations and selecting the winners. Entries were received from countries as diverse as Australia, Belgium, Egypt, Germany, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Romania, USA, UAE and the UK. The awards were presented in 11 categories to organisations and individuals.
The 2021 winners are:
– Chief Information Security Officer : Glen Hymers of Save The Children International;
– Cyber Security Professional : Anna B – AWE;
– Cyber Security Team : Marken Information Security Team;
– Cyber Security Consultant : Peter Yapp – Schillings International;
– Customer Service Initiative : iSTORM® Privacy – Security – Pentesting;
– Cyber Security Training/Awareness Initiative : NPCC (UK National Police Chiefs Council) National Cybercrime Programme;
– Cyber Security Partnership : North East Business Resilience Centre;
– Police/Law Enforcement Initiative : NPCC National Cybercrime Programme – Police CyberAlarm;
– Young Cyber Security Professional : Sarah Norman-Clarke – Department for Transport; and
– New Cyber Security Product : Deduce Customer Alerts – Deduce.
A lifetime achievement award went to former GCHQ and BT man Dr Robert (Bob) Nowill. More details on the winners at the Cyber OSPAs website.
Explaining the awards, Martin Gill said: “Cyber security is not a ’nice to have’, it is a fundamental need and doing it well has never been so important.”
Visit https://www.thecyberospas.com/. You can view the hour’s ceremony live stream on Youtube. For any enquiries about applying for future OSPAs, email [email protected].
