Professional Awards

The Professional Awards are open to information security professionals who are full or part-time employed, and/or self-employed within Europe (including Israel and Russia).

Those professionals may work for private public or not-for profit organisations.

Qualifying questions and criteria for each category are listed below. You will need to have answers prepared for all of the below questions before beginning the online entry process.

Information Security Person of the Year

Open to any person who works in a capacity that protects an enterprise from electronic attacks on the following:
•    System architectures
•    Networks
•    Business data
•    Partner data
•    Customer data
•    Web properties
•    Any other information or systems deemed essential to business continuity

The winner of this prestigious award will come from private or public sector organisations and will be able to prove that his or her actions in their post have tangibly improved security processes, lowered risk, enhanced security and business efficiency and brand reputation. Individuals can nominate themselves or be nominated by peers or industry partners, including vendors. The watchword for this award is "excellence".

Qualifying Questions:

PLEASE NOTE: All answers must relate to the performance and achievements of individuals and teams in 12 months prior to date of entry

Please provide the following details regarding your entry:

•    Nominated person:
•    Nominated person or team contact number:
•    Nominated person or team email:
•    Qualifications held (e.g. CISSP, ISSAP, CISA, etc):
•    What is the budget responsibility of the nominee(s)?
•    What is the nominee’s employer?
•    What is the annual turnover of the company?
•    Number of employees (inc overseas staff if applicable):
•    How long has the individual been in their position? (Not applicable to team nominations)
•    How many company employees are involved in an information security and/or risk assessment function?

Please write no more than 400 words for each section below

Innovation
How has the person or team demonstrated innovation in information security and risk? For example, introducing new ways of working, training and use of technology.

Business Function
How has this person or team demonstrated an understanding of the importance of the information security function to the wider business? Describe in what way(s) they aligned the security function with the company’s business goals.

Leadership
How has this person or team demonstrated true leadership in terms of raising the profile of information security and risk in the business and/or leading and developing a team? How well does this person or team get their points across to the board? How good are their communication skills?

Reputation
In what significant ways has this person or team enhanced the reputation for excellence, honesty and diligence of the information security and risk profession and contributed to its acceptance as an integral part of the business environment?

Awareness
How has this person or team raised awareness of information security and risk over and beyond their day-to-day business activities? This may be through professional associations, conference and seminar appearances, dealing with the media or within their own organisations through training and awareness.

Information Security Project of the Year

Open to any organisation that has initiated and completed a dedicated information security project in 20010/2011. The project can include the following:

•    Staff security awareness
•    Public awareness
•    Training
•    Technology roll-outs
•    Systems consolidation after merger or acquisition
•    Security audit
•    Business wide security process.

The winner of this prestigious award will come from private or public sector organisations and will be able to prove that the project has tangibly improved processes, lowered risk, and enhanced security, business efficiency and brand reputation.

Please provide the following details regarding your entry:

•    Nominated project:
•    Nominated contact number:
•    Nominated email:
•    What is the company’s main business?
•    What is the annual turnover of the company?
•    Number of employees (inc overseas staff if applicable):
•    How many company employees are involved in an information security and/or risk assessment function?

Please write no more than 400 words for each section below:

Project Focus and Goals
What were the primary drivers for this project? For example, did it address a specific information risk to the business or was it a proactive project designed to address projected risks? Was the project designed to bring greater efficiency and/or cost savings and productivity gains to the business?

Project Achievements
Give evidence of the measurable and provable achievemnets of the project including ROI and enhanced business security.

Project Integration
How was the project integrated into the business?

Reputation
In what significant ways has the project enhanced the reputation for excellence, honesty and diligence of the information security and risk profession and contributed to its aceptance as an integral part of the business environment?

Information Security Team of the Year

Open to any business team or function that works in a capacity that protects an enterprise from electronic attacks on the following:
•    System architectures
•    Networks
•    Business data
•    Partner data
•    Customer data
•    Web properties
•    Any other information deemed essential to business continuity.

The winners of this prestigious award will come from private or public sector organisations and will be able to prove the actions of the team tangibly improved security processes, lowered risk, and enhanced security, business efficiency and brand reputation. Teams can nominate themselves (via team leader) or be nominated by peers or industry partners, including vendors.

Please provide the following details regarding your entry:

•    Nominated team:
•    Nominated team contact number:
•    Nominated team email:
•    What is the company’s main business?
•    What is the annual turnover of the company?
•    Number of employees (inc overseas staff if applicable):
•    How long has the individual been in their position? (Not applicable to team nominations)
•    How many company employees are involved in an information security and/or risk assessment function?

Please write no more than 400 words for each section below:

Team Ability
How has this team developed and managed a project or series of completed projects that successfully improved the security of the business and/or resulted in greater efficiency and/or cost savings and productivity gains for the business?

Innovation
How has the team demonstrated innovation in information security and risk? For example, introducing new ways of working, training and use of technology.

Business Function
How has the team demonstrated an understanding of the importance of the information security function to the wider business? Describe in what way(s) they aligned the security function with the company’s business goals.

Integration and working together
How did this team integrate into the rest of the business, what were the chief characteristics of the team that made it a success? Did it get special recognition from senior management within the business?

Reputation 
In what significant ways has the team enhanced the reputation for excellence, honesty and diligence of the information security and risk profession and contributed to its acceptance as an integral part of the business environment?

The "Rising Star" Award

This award is open to anyone new to the information security profession, with less than seven years service and who has demonstrated great promise for their future career and for the reputation and development of the information security profession.

Their role can include the following:

•    Information risk assessment
•    Secure network design
•    Encryption policy
•    Audit
•    Managed security services
•    Web security
•    Any other function that can be said to uphold the reputation of a private or public sector organisation as a secure business.

Individuals can nominate themselves or be nominated by peers or industry partners, including vendors.

Please provide the following details regarding your entry:

•    Nominated person:
•    Nominated person contact number:
•    Nominated person email:
•    Qualifications held (e.g. CISSP, ISSAP etc):
•    What is the nominee’s employer?
•    What is the annual turnover of the company?
•    Number of employees (inc overseas staff if applicable):
•    How long has the individual been in their position?
•    How many company employees are involved in an information security and/or risk assessment function?

Please write no more than 400 words for each section below:

Outstanding qualities
What are this person’s star qualities and why does he or she stand out from his or her peers?

Achievements
Please list those achievements and projects that mark out this person as a rising star of the information security profession. Please outline the benefits that the achievements and projects brought to the business.

Reputation 
In what ways has this person enhanced the reputation for excellence, honesty and diligence of the information security and risk profession?

Awareness
How has this person or team raised awareness of information security and risk over and beyond their day-to-day business activities? This may be through professional associations, conference and seminar appearances, dealing with the media or within their own organisations through training and awareness. 

Testimonials
Please provide at least two testimonials from superiors that testify to the excellence of the nominees performance and outstanding qualities.

Don’t forget the entry deadline – November 29 2012

If you have any queries, please call Events Manager Jo Plinston on 020 8267 4043