Security-conscious CIOs

Security strategist awards

The SecureSynergy Security Strategist Awards 2004 were given to CIOs who used information security as a means to fuel business growth in their organisations. Soutiman Das Gupta has the details

A security strategist (SS) is a visionary and a leader who conceptualises a comprehensive security strategy for an organisation, and has the skills to implement and manage it. With these abilities, an SS supports business strategy, helps the company attain competitive advantage through proactive information risk management, and enhances trust between the organisation and its stakeholders.

The evening of Friday, October 29, 2004 at Technology Senate 2004 at the Trans Asia Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was dedicated to the honour of a number of talented security strategists who have been instrumental in moving their organisations’ business ahead without compromising the security of valuable corporate information. A number of CIOs were presented the SecureSynergy Security Strategist Award in their respective categories.

The proceedings

The master of ceremonies of the evening, Hosi Vasunia, introduced the awards and spoke a bit about the selection process and the methodology. The audience comprised CIOs, some of their spouses, and other family members.

Network Magazine—a sister publication of Express Computer—had appointed IMRB as the award’s Business Process Validator (BPV). The BPV ensured that the process undertaken to select winners was fair and transparent. Of 135 applications, the top three contenders in each category were interviewed by the jury panel consisting of academic experts, CIOs and security experts.

The awards were given in three categories. Each category’s winner was selected after interviewing the top three nominees to analyse parameters such as security policy and management, planning and administration, incident response mechanisms, contingency planning and disaster recovery, and future vision. The jury panel then decided the winner based on a weighted ranking mechanism developed by NM’s editorial team in consultation with IMRB.

IMRB and McAfee

Sanjiv Chaudhary, senior project director, eTechnology group, IMRB, made a presentation on the importance of the SecureSynergy Security Strategist Awards, and the role played by his organisation in the proceedings. Later in the evening, Ashley Wearne, McAfee’s area vice-president for Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia & India, gave a short speech about the need for organisations to stay secure, and the vital role played by an SS in a company.

Jury panel

Vasunia then introduced the members of the jury panel: S B Patankar, director of information systems at The Stock Exchange; Mani Mulki, the IT head of Godrej Industries; Prof Sivakumar, head of the department of computer science & engineering at IIT (Mumbai); and Capt Felix Mohan, CEO of SecureSynergy.

Categories and nominees

The categories for the awards were BFSI; IT, ITES, and telecom; and general industry.

Cultural asides

The awards presentation was interspersed with a number of performances by Sri Lankan dance troupes. The well-choreographed sequences were a delight to watch.

And the winner is…

V K Ramani of UTI Bank won the award in the BFSI category. Rajiv Seoni of Hughes took home the award in the IT, ITES and telecom category. V V R Babu of ITC won in the general industry category. All the winners thanked the event organisers and the jury members for bestowing them the honour.

	1. V K Ramani of UTI Bank accepts the award from Ashley Wearne of McAfee
2. Sanjiv Chaudhary, IMRB, explains the methods behind the SecureSynergy Security Strategist Awards
	3. Wearne talks about the need for sound security strategies
4. Wearne hands the award to Rajiv Seoni of Hughes Software
	5. Felix Mohan of SecureSynergy congratulates V V R Babu of ITC

soutimand@networkmagazineindia.com