Global CIO Forum honours winners of Global Future Security Leaders Awards 2020
On July 14, over 15 leading security experts took part in the Security and Risk Management WebSummit, hosted by Global CIO Forum, GCF. With remote working becoming the norm, it has given rise to unique security challenges for companies. To mitigate these security risks, organisations must implement clear and comprehensive policies and take proactive measures to ensure the safety and integrity of company data. The speakers participating in the Security and Risk Management WebSummit shared their experiences and offered cogent advice.
The WebSummit also hosted an engaging Workforce Security Expert Panel featuring CISOs from six different countries who shared their experiences on the pandemic and how the lives of CISOs have changed forever.
Strategic partners for the WebSummit were BeyondTrust, Exclusive Network, Spectrami, CyberKnight, IronNet and Finesse.
Global Future Security Leaders Awards 2020
A key highlight of the Security and Risk Management WebSummit was the Global Future Security Leaders Awards 2020. Top CIOs from across the Middle East, India, Pakistan, Singapore and Egypt were honoured as GCF Certified Security Leader. Similarly, top vendors and channels were honoured with the Security Players Awards. The awards also celebrated the ever-changing role of CISOs in organisations, and how they have been instrumental in bringing about change.
The winners
Global CIO Forum bestowed winners with the title of GCF Certified Security Leader for fulfilling and demonstrating the competencies and skillsets of a next-gen CISO. The list included:
- Dr Erdal Ozkaya, Regional CISO, Standard Chartered Bank
- Ayad (Ed) Sleiman, Head of Information Security, KAUST
- Abdul Rahim Ahmad, CTO & CISO, Securities & Exchange Commission Of Pakistan
- Mohammed Ishtiaq Hussain, Head of IT Infrastructure and IT Security, Doha Bank
- Anand Sinha, CIO & Director IT, OCS Group India
- Abdelmajed Ahmed Saeed Fadol, CISO, Medgulf
- Rotimi Akinyele, Manager, Information Security and Business Continuity, Ras Al Khaimah Government Entity
- Virag Thakkar, Head IT GRC, Agoda
- Varun Vij, Information Security Lead, SERCO
- Sunil Kumar Sharma, Vice President, Information Security & Compliance (CISO), Aldar Properties
- Jurageswaran Shetty, Manager, IT Security and Infrastructure, GulfTainer
- Syed Ali Nouman, Manager IT Security, Doha Bank
- Hossam Abbas Barakat, GM IT, Egypt Gas
- Tom Gamali, Group CISO, ALJ
- Pradeep Krishnan Nair, Assistant Director IT Security, University of Sharjah
- Ayman AlAwami, Head Of Cyber Security, Amlak International
- Bilal Ahmad, Information Security Manager, Union Cooperative Society
- Chander Mohan Raina, IT & Systems Manager, Wyndham Grand Regency
- Amir Siddiqui, CISO, Samba Bank Limited
- Anand Prabhu Selvakumar, Senior Manager IT Security, Qatar Insurance Group
- Vivek Silla, AVP, IT Security Governance & Risk Management, Public Investment Fund
- Amin M Siddiqui, Vice President of Information Security Governance and Risk, Public Investment Fund
- Bittu Balakrishnan, Project Manager Business Systems, Adyard Abu Dhabi LLC
- Samir Kasim Pawaskar, Head, Cyber Security Policy and Standards, Ministry of Transport and Communications
- Saghir Ahmad Khan, Manager Incidents Management, Alrajhi bank
- Abubakar Arshad, Director Cyber Security, BNET
- Mansoor Mughal, Deputy Information Security Manager, DFM
- Mohamed Niroz, CISO, Abdul Rahman Kanoo International School
- Mohammed Alshamrani, CISO, Bidaya Home Finance
- Abdulmajeed Alrasheed, Head of Information Security, GIB
- Mustapha Huneyd, Former CISO, Ooredoo Group
- Navaneethan M, Senior VP-CISO, Naspers Group
- Syed Abdul Qadir, Director, Technology Advisory and Cyber Risk Assurance, A. F. Ferguson & Co, PwC Pakistan
- Vivek Gupta, Vice President, Head of Information Security, GEMS Education
Vendor awards
While GCF awarded CISOs who have been the sentinels of their organizations, it was also equally important to recognise the key security players in the region. GCF felicitated five leading security players who have stepped up their game and made a difference with their solution offerings along with their alliance partners.
- Cohesive Security Solution award: Spectrami
- Future of Security award: RNS technology Services
- Next-Gen Security award: Pulse Secure
- Innovative Security Solution award: Bulwark Technologies
- Future of Security award: Cybereason
Tarek Kuzbari, Regional Director Middle East and Turkey, Cybereason, said, “With the sudden pivot to remote working and accelerated adoption of cloud, now more than ever, organisations in the region need to ensure they have robust endpoint security defences and policies in place. This award is a testament to our relentless commitment to helping our customers shore up their defences and build safer environments and I would like to thank GEC Media for recognising us as an industry disruptor.
Anand Choudha, CEO, Spectrami, said, “We are very excited to win this award. We thank GEC for this recognition, as well as to our customers and partners for all their support. At Spectrami, we take great pride in introducing leading and bleeding edge technologies to the Middle East region to secure enterprise against cyber attacks. Our focus is to provide comprehensive end-to-end cyber security solutions and this award reinforces our commitment to the same.”
Samir Chopra, CEO and Founder at RNS Technology Services, said, “RNS is a customer focused future facing organisation which is driven and motivated by success. If you ask the three characteristics that make us unique is the enthusiasm to deliver, the energy that each of us at RNS carry to understand the security concerns of our customers and add value to their lives by enabling them deliver their job functions more securely, and the excitement of seeing the end result with our stakeholders to help them achieve their goals. We help not just our customers but we are also trying to bring in cultural change in the eco-system in the entire community by sharing our brand of support and services. That’s something RNS is uniquely trying to contribute to the community and bring change in our own way.”
Jose Thomas Menacherry, Managing Director, Bulwark Technologies, said, “Thank you team GEC Media Group for providing us the recognition as the Innovative Security Solution VAD Award. We are truly honoured to receive it. It is an even greater honour to be placed in such distinguished and established ranks of being an eminent player and made significant contributions in the IT Distribution scenario. We have been instrumental in bringing the latest technology from time to time to customers in the region and glad to be recognised through this prestigious award.”
About GCF Unite WebSummit
Global CIO Forum’s GCF Unite WebSummit is an online webinar that is aimed towards creating a global technology leaders’ community whose ultimate goal is to Integrate, Influence, Impact CIOs and tech leaders. The GCF Unite WebSummit will host a series of events in multiple chapters and 30+ countries featuring successful local Tech leaders, CIOs, IT Directors, innovators, educators and investors who share business leadership best practices, and lessons learned on the road to building great future with help of technocrat & technology.
About Global CIO Forum
The role of a CIO is one of the most critical one in today’s business and industry. Today, CIOs hold the future of innovation, productivity and competitiveness in their hands. At the Global CIO Forum, we not only provide our members with an exchange forum for best IT leadership strategies and practices to enhance business results, but we are also developing a strong voice to ensure that CIOs are represented at key industry and government decision tables. In other words: Integrate. Influence. Impact.
The Global CIO Forum’s mission is to represents IT Executives and CIOs globally. Currently working in META region and with expansion plans globally, the Global CIO Forum is a non-profit community of CIOs and IT leaders whose mission is to facilitate networking, sharing of best practices and executive development, and to collaborate on issues faced by the CIOs/IT Executives.
