2022 ISANZ Awards Finalists Revealed

From large-scale firewall deployments to scam simulators and information security professionals and businesses from across the country, a full slate of finalists have today been announced in the 2022 iSANZ Awards.

The annual iSANZ Awards were established eight years ago to recognise the achievements of New Zealand people and organisations in the cybersecurity and information security (InfoSec) field.

iSANZ Chair Kendra Ross says the awards attracted many high quality entries this year, including in two new categories - Best Senior Security Practitioner, and Best Security Team.

From an incredible number of amazing entries the independent judges of the awards have recognised the following finalists in each category:

Best Security Project or Security Awareness Initiative

Sharesies for firewall deployment across its New Zealand and Australian networks by Fastcom.

Education Arcade for its NFT scam simulator.

Mindshift for its small business cybersecurity training.

Best Senior Security Practitioner

Alastair Miller - Principal Advisory Consultant at Aura Information Security.

Todd Skilton - Chief Information Security Officer at Toka Tū Ake EQC.

Nyuk Loong Kiw - Chapter Area Lead at Spark Cyber Defence Tribe.

Best Start-Up or New Business

DataMasque.

Blacklock Security.

Mindshift.

Up-and-Coming Cyber Security Star

Amina Aggarwal from Spark.

Saptarshi Karmakar (Rik) from the Ministry of Justice.

Katherine Lennox-Steele from Unisphere, and Cyber Tribe.

Best Security Team

Kordia’s Vulnerability Management Team.

Toka Tū Ake EQC's Information Security Team.

Spark’s Cyber Defence Tribe.

Best New Zealand Security Service or Product

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) for its malware free networks initiative.

Blacklock Security for its self-service penetration testing platform.

Mindshift for its tailored programmes of cybersecurity training.

Kendra says over the past year, the iSANZ Board has continued to see how individuals and businesses from across the country are positively addressing the most pressing cybersecurity challenges, with a focus on excellence, innovation, and leadership. This was well and truly reflected in this year’s entries.

Being selected as a national finalist is a significant achievement, she says - one that highlights each of the finalists’ dedication to information security.

"We want to thank everyone for taking the time to enter the 2022 awards. It's encouraging to see the range of work being done to help protect networks, our people and our country from cyber crime and malicious online activity.”

Winners will be announced at a gala awards evening on 1 November in Wellington, where a person, event or organisation will also be crowned in a special nominated Hall of Fame category.

The 2022 iSANZ Awards are proudly sponsored by Datacom, Quantum Security, Duo a division of Sektor, Spark NZ, Kordia, SailPoint, Check Point, Palo Alto Networks / NEXTGEN Group, CyberCX, NTT and NCSC. Supporting partners are NZITF, SiteHost and 1st Tuesday.

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