As data security becomes increasingly important, SiliconRepublic.com has put together a list of top cybersecurity experts fighting the battle for data safety from the frontlines.
SiliconRepublic.com is putting cybersecurity under the microscope this March by taking a deeper look behind the news to understand what is happening in this ever-evolving field.
This month, we spoke to Kyndryl Ireland’s managing director Chris Davis, who discussed the company’s recent report on Irish consumer cybersecurity trends. We also spoke to John Kindervag, the creator of the zero-trust model of cybersecurity (you will hear about him more below).
The cyber space is constantly battling new threats while authorities are scrambling to introduce legislations that keep organisations safe and accountable.
Last year, an alarming report from PwC found that only 28pc of Ireland’s organisations had implemented “robust cyber resilience actions”, with the rest leaving their data vulnerable.
However, last October, the EU’s Network & Information Security 2 (NIS2) entered into force, which obliges organisations to ramp up their security measures.
While the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act, or DORA, for shortness and cuteness, took effect this January, binding the EU’s banking and financial landscape under strict regulations to protect their vital systems from cybersecurity threats.
Clearly, there’s a lot going on, so we thought it was important to introduce you to some key players in the industry. We’ve restricted ourselves to only 10 names here, but some influential cybersecurity experts including Brian Honan, Jacky Fox and Jenny Radcliffe have already made their way onto last’s year list.
Ilana Smith
Ilana Smith has spent 25 years at Microsoft, beginning her career as a technical specialist intern in 2000, to taking over as the project manager and site lead at the company’s Identity Team twenty years later.
Speaking on the first episode of SiliconRepublic.com’s new Career Close-Up series, Smith said that “cyberattacks are growing in speed and scale and sophistication”.
“These days, our job is a little bit interesting, because as a company, we are currently undertaking an initiative we call the Secure Future Initiative. That is a massive effort across the entire company, 35,000 engineers, where we’re really focused on raising the security of all our products.”
John Kindervag
John Kindervag is best known for creating the zero-trust model of cybersecurity all the way back in 2009. Rooted in the principle of “never trust, always verify”, the model operates by granting access to authorised users and devices on the basis of whether their identities can be authenticated.
Since developing the concept, Kindervag has come to be known as ‘the godfather of zero trust’. In 2021, he was named as CISO Mag’s Cybersecurity Person of the Year. In the same year, Kindervag was named to former US president Joe Biden’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Currently, he is the chief evangelist at the US cloud computing security company Illumio, where he continues to promote the increased adoption of the zero-trust approach.
Jan Carroll
University College Dublin lecturer and cybersecurity expert Jan Carroll founded Fortify Institute in 2022. Based in Meath, the institute provides training in cybersecurity, incident handling and response, cloud security and information security and ethical hacking. Last year, she was named on a list of the ‘Most Inspiring Women in Cyber’.
Speaking to SiliconRepublic.com in 2021 about the then recent HSE attacks, Carroll said: “One positive result of the HSE attack is that it has made everyone take cybersecurity seriously.
“We should see this as an opportunity to take advantage of having everyone’s attention and launch a national cyber awareness campaign.”
Neal Mullen
Six months ago, Neal Mullen was appointed as the chief information security officer for the HSE, where he is playing a crucial role in advancing the healthcare agency’s cybersecurity efforts.
Mullen is a certified cyber risk officer, a NIST-certified security expert and was entered into the Business Continuity Institute Hall of Fame in 2019 for his contribution to security resilience in the private sector. He also serves as a cybersecurity advisory board director at the Safehouse Initiative, a US-based non-profit.
Iva Tasheva
Iva Tasheva is the co-founder and cybersecurity lead at Cyen, a family-owned micro-consultancy established in Brussels in 2018. She helps public and private sector organisations manage cybersecurity governance, risk and compliance.
Tasheva has experience in the public, digital, transport, banking, medical devices and non-profit sectors. In 2022, she was shortlisted for Belgium’s Cyber Personality of the Year Award, organised by the Belgian Cybersecurity Coalition.
In a 2023 interview with SiliconRepublic.com, Tasheva said technology can be either an enabler or a risk. “We must acknowledge that there is no such thing as 100pc security,” she said.
Tasheva also appeared on the first episode of the FutureHuman: The Series podcast, which focused on zero-trust cybersecurity.
Troy Hunt
Troy Hunt is an Australian web security consultant best known for creating Have I Been Pwned? (HIBP), a website that lets people check if their information has been compromised in a data breach. Last October, Hunt’s website made news when hackers who broke into Internet Archive sent him their stolen data.
Apart from founding HIBP in 2013, Hunt has also created several courses on web security and other technologies on Pluralsight as its information security author and instructor. He also regularly runs developer-focused security workshops and speaks at international conferences.
Raluca Saceanu
Raluca Saceanu took over as the CEO of Smarttech247 in 2022 after having spent more than eight years in the company. Speaking to SiliconRepublic.com recently, she said that the cyber landscape is ever-changing. “Data is at the heart of everything”, she said, “it’s one of the biggest targets for cyberattacks”.
“Yet, many businesses struggle to keep track of where their data is, how it’s being used or whether it’s properly secured.”
Saceanu noted that Irish organisations, like those globally, are struggling to secure their systems, with industries that typically hold sensitive data being particularly vulnerable.
Richard Browne
As the director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Browne’s tasks include leading the centre’s operations, as well as advising the Irish Government on matters relating to cybersecurity. His work involves ensuring that there is a comprehensive national approach to cybersecurity.
His experience with the NCSC goes back a decade, having joined the centre in 2014 to lead the development of Ireland’s national cybersecurity policy. In 2020, he took on the role of deputy director at the National Security Analysis Centre and served as acting director of the NCSC in 2021.
According a recent NCSC report, there were more than 700 confirmed cyber incidents in Ireland in 2023. As a result, the centre and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications launched a new €2m cybersecurity “improvement” fund last year for SMEs to boost their cybersecurity.
Elisa Chiapponi
Dr Elisa Chiapponi is a cybersecurity researcher at Amadeus IT Group and the leader of the human resources team at the Nice Hub – a World Economic Forum initiative which brings together a group of individuals driving change in the French Riviera.
Chiapponi holds a PhD in cryptography and security from the university of Sorbonne in Paris. Her research interests lie in the analysis and detection of bots, residential IP proxies and Captcha Farms usage.
Shira Rubinoff
Shira Rubinoff leads Cybersphere Group as its CEO. She has acted as an advisor to several other organisations including CyberproAI, BankVault Cybersecurity and Pace University in New York.
She is an influencer, a global keynote speaker and a published author with a 2020 book called Cyber Minds, where she gives insights into staying “cyber” safe across cloud, data and AI.
Currently, she is also on the board of advisors at the Executive Women’s Forum on Information Security, Risk Management and Privacy in the US.
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