Last week, we had the honour of hosting the seventh annual Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards. It’s always been one of our favourite events on the calendar, as we gather security leaders, rising stars, awareness and diversity advocates, educators and CISOs all in one room to celebrate all of those who make our industry so great. The event itself is sponsored by KnowBe4, Qualys, Beazley, KPMG and the Zensory to make sure that we can run it at no expense to the nominees; and was compered by the infamous Clive Room, director at Pulse Conferences. The NSPCC was also fundraising at the event and between the attendees, we raised £820 on the night for Childline.
At Eskenzi, we love bringing the cybersecurity community together and unearthing some real gems amongst all the people going above and beyond to help keep the UK a safer, more inclusive and healthier place to do business. One such person doing amazing work to support a more neurodiverse workforce is Holly Foxcroft, head of neurodiversity in cyber research at Stott and May Consulting and winner of the new award for Diversity Champion. She said: “Winning the award for me is shining a light that mine and other neuroinclusive supporters’ work, is really being recognised in the field of diversity and cyber. It was an honour to be in the company of so many inspirational cyber professionals – the room was buzzing! We are such a passionate industry; the event really focusses on the individual efforts of our community – the unsung heroes!”
Ed Tucker, senior director of cybersecurity at The Workshop, took home the coveted prize of Godparent of Security. A humble winner, he said he owes his success to the people surrounding him: “I’ve been a long-time admirer of the Unsung Heroes Awards and the thoroughly deserved peer recognition it champions! To even be considered for such an accolade is frankly humbling, but to receive the award is amazing. Any personal accolade is more a reflection on the fabulous people I’ve worked with along the way, who have enabled me to achieve any success. To them especially I owe a huge debt of thanks.”
We were also contacted post event from other winners letting us know they were still “walking on air” and delighted to have been “benchmarked in such a worthy community”. It’s what the awards are all about and we feel so privileged to be able to make it happen, going beyond awarding products in the industry to recognise the people who make the biggest impact and inspire the next generation of cyber talent! The full list of winners is below:
Security Leader / Mentor:
Winner: Alan Jenkins, Decipher Cyber Consulting Partners
Highly commended: Mo Amin, The Workshop
CISO Supremo:
Winner: Christian Toon, Pinsent Masons
Godparent of Security:
Winner: Ed Tucker, The Workshop
Security Avengers:
Winner: FullFact.org
Best Ethical Hacker/Pentester:
Winner: Glenn Pegden, Sky Betting & Gaming
Best Security Awareness Campaign:
Winner: Bupa
Best Educator:
Winner: Professor Danny Dresner, University of Manchester
Apprentice / Rising Star:
Winner: Ewa Kapica, The Connection at St Martin’s
Highly commended: Lemuel Valdez, KPMG
Diversity Champion:
Winner: Holly Foxcroft, Stott and May Consulting
Cybersecurity Wellbeing Advocate:
Winner: Christine Gordon Bennett, Nedbank
Highly commended: Eoin Hinchy, Tines
Cyber Writer:
Winner: James Coker, Infosecurity Magazine
Data Guardian:
Bev Allen, Quilter
Of course, all the nominees are heroes in our eyes! To get involved next year, please contact beth@eskenzipr.com.
In the meantime, check out our next people-centric event to shine a light on some of the Most Inspiring Women in Cybersecurity: https://www.itsecurityguru.org/most-inspiring-women-cyber-2022/ Look forward to reading your nominations!
