By Beth Smith
Another Infosecurity Europe done and dusted;, I believe it was my 11th one and 24th (!) for the company… Phew! What a week! We’ll be churning out lots of content and podcasts from the event (so do look out for those), but for now let’s look at the European Cybersecurity Blogger’s Awards because (let’s face it), it was probably the most fun part of our week!
For a second year, Eskenzi organised the European Cybersecurity Blogger’s Awards and with help from our amazing clients and in particular Synopsys, the headline sponsor, we were able to throw one helluva party!
The fun and lively (bordering on rowdy at times!) awards ceremony was compered by Canon Europe’s director of information security, Quentyn Taylor and Javvad Malik, security awareness advocate at KnowBe4. Infosecurity bloggers and judges voted for their favourite cybersecurity related blogs, vlogs, Twitter and Instagram accounts and the results were revealed at the Hand & Flower Pub in Olympia. Graham Cluley took home the Grand Prix for Best Overall Security Blog. Quentyn quipped that awards followed “EuroVision rules” when Troy Hunt was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his impact on the industry over the past year.
The full list of winners included:
Best New Cybersecurity Podcast: Darknet Diaries
Best New Blog: The Many Hats Club
Best Cybersecurity Vendor Blog: MalwareBytes
Best Commercial Twitter Account: NCSC
Best Cybersecurity Podcast: Smashing Security
Best Cybersecurity Vlog: Jenny Radcliffe
Best Personal (non-commercial) Security Blog: Chrissy Morgan, @5w0rdFish
Most Educational Blog for User Awareness: NCSC
Most Entertaining Blog: Javvad Malik
Best Technical Blog: DoublePulsar by Kevin Beaumont
Best Tweeter: @QuentynBlog
Best Instagrammer: @Lausecurity
The Legends of Cybersecurity – Hall of Fame: Troy Hunt
The Legends of Cybersecurity – Grand Prix for Best Overall Security Blog: Graham Cluley
The awards recognised the best blogs in the industry as first nominated and voted for by peers and then judged by a panel of respected industry experts, including: Brian Honan (BH Consulting), Jack Daniel (Tenable), Javvad Malik (KnowBe4), Dan Raywood (Infosecurity Magazine), Quentyn Taylor (Canon Europe) and Yvonne Eskenzi (Eskenzi PR).
Graham Cluley, who won the Grand Prix, commented: “Personally, my gast is entirely flabbered to have been awarded the Grand Prix for best security blog when facing such incredibly stiff competition. The security community can feel proud to have such a great line-up of blogs tackling the increasingly important issue of cybersecurity from such a wide variety of angles.”
“Carole Theriault and I are tickled pink to have Smashing Security also named Best Security Podcast,” he continued. “It’s one thing to have the opportunity to do something we love, but to find that others think it’s worth listening to each week is a complete bonus. We feel extremely lucky to have such a great band of listeners, guests and sponsors helping us take the show from strength to strength. Thanks to Eskenzi and Synopsys for sponsoring the awards. It’s great to have the chance to meet our peers and for everyone to see that blogging and podcasting is alive and well in the infosecurity industry!”
Jenny Radcliffe, winner of the best cybersecurity vlog said, “The Bloggers Awards is a great event. It gets the community together and celebrates those who put content out helping to connect our community and the wider industry. It’s a real honour to be invited and recognised for this type of work.”
William Lau who took home the inaugural prize for best Instagrammer said that he was “amazed not only to have been nominated, but to have people voting and for the win. I am truly humbled to be able to rub shoulders with the industry giants, despite my tongue-in-cheek work. So much love for my cybersecurity fam!”
“It was a pleasure to be a part of the judging team for the European Security Blogger awards again, particularly in a year when so many new categories have been introduced,” said judge Dan Raywood, contributing editor at Infosecurity Magazine. “Every year, it becomes more of a struggle to pick from a wide range of credible candidates for each category, which can only be a positive factor for our industry. To be a contender for 2020, you had better start writing, speaking, thinking and photographing more efficiently over the next 12 months!”
Congrats to all of the deserving 2019 winners!
