Second Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards open for nominations as search gets underway to unearth those at the coalface of cyber security
Eskenzi PR, the driving force behind Security Serious , has today announced the second annual Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards are now open for nominations. The awards recognise the people, not products, on the front lines of organisations battling cyber threats and often saving the bacon of the companies they work for. Nominations are open until the end of July and The Unsung Heroes Awards will take place on Tuesday, 3rd October 2017, during Security Serious Week – a week during October’s European Cyber Security Awareness Month dedicated to events put on by cyber-security experts to encourage others in business to take cyber security more seriously.
The Unsung Heroes Awards, started by Eskenzi PR, Smile on Fridays and the IT Security Guru, are backed by the cyber security industry from Infosecurity Europe, the Department for Media Culture & Sport and certification bodies such as (ISC)² and CREST to major corporations like GlaxoSmithKline and Canon and vendors FireMon, Corero, Lastline, Mimecast, Barracuda, SELabs, 1e and Gigamon.
They make it possible for the Unsung Heroes Awards to be free to enter and free to attend, unlike any other industry award.
“Our unique format means that people can nominate their customers, colleagues, friends or professors to be recognised for the fantastic – but often thankless – work they do behind the scenes saving their companies from cyber attacks and IT security related threats,” said Yvonne Eskenzi, Director of Eskenzi PR. “The Unsung Heroes awards are about unearthing new talent and thanking all those incredible IT security professionals who work tirelessly behind the scenes doing great work with a great night filled with laughs, meeting new people and catching up with familiar faces; and of course, a drink or two.”
The categories are now open for nominations until 31st July 2017 and include:
Fraud Fighter
Captain Compliance
Godfather of Security
Cyber Writer
Security Avengers (team)
Best Security Awareness Campaign
Security Leader/Mentor
Apprentice/Rising Star
Best Educator
CISO Supremos – Retail, CNI, Finance, Manufacturing, Media & Entertainment, Charity and Telecoms
“There are incredible individuals striving to keep the services we rely on safe from cyber criminals,” said Ian Glover, president of CREST, the not-for profit accreditation and certification body for the technical information security industry. “As an industry, we need to encourage the very best people to choose cyber security as a career path and show it in its best light as an extremely accessible yet challenging, exciting and rewarding one. This is why initiatives such as the Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards are so important.”
David Peach of the Economist Group described last year’s awards ceremony as “A really fun event to celebrate the UK security community” while Martyn Croft from the Salvation Army called it “The best unknown awards in the world” and Javvad Malik, Security advocate, AlienVault raved “The event was well-attended, with winners receiving trophies in addition to superhero capes and masks. Adding much needed levity to such events that can often end up taking themselves a bit too seriously (no pun intended).”
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