Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Creativity: Craig Ford

An ethical hacker, security engineer, cyber security journalist, and author, Craig Ford is driving a fresh approach in the information security industry in pursuit of a safer and more equitable society.

Craig is currently Chief Technology Officer at Baidam Solutions, an Indigenous-owned and operated information technology business delivering industry-leading cyber security services to private and public sector and not-for-profit clients. In this role, he leads the company’s technical services component and plays a central part in creating an open and inclusive workplace.

Since joining Baidam three years ago, Craig has embraced the company’s mission to bridge the gap for First Nations peoples. He is dedicated to building pathways and securing opportunities for young Indigenous men and women to pursue rewarding careers in cyber security, including through the company’s recently launched Security Operations Centre, the first in Australia to be Indigenous codesigned.

Throughout his twenty-year career, Craig has developed vast expertise and an innovative approach to solving complex problems. He has worked in both incident response (blue team) and performed ethical hacking engagements (Red Team) for realworld testing of clients’ systems. He has worked as a virtual CISO, conducted high-level security audits, and brought systems in line with international security framework standards.

Craig was named Australian Information Security Association (AISA) Cyber Security Professional of the Year in 2020 in recognition of his industry leadership and a Male Champion of Change, special recognition award in the Australian Women in Security Awards in 2021. Last year he was among Top Cyber News magazine’s inaugural 40 under 40, and recently became the only Australian ever featured on the global publication’s cover.

A prolific cyber security journalist, Craig is a vocal advocate for a more open cyber security industry. He has written almost 100 articles for CSO illuminating a diversity of topics for broad audiences and is a regular columnist for Women in Security Magazine and contributor to Cyber Today, Careers with STEM, Top Cyber News, SecureGOV and Cyber Australia. Also, a best-selling author, Craig’s popular book series A Hacker, I Am offers a fresh and creative perspective on cyber security, making it fun and accessible to anyone seeking to learn how to stay safe in our digital world. His second series, a cyberpunk/ hacker fantasy Foresight and its sequel Shadow, delves into the mind of a female hacker to encourage young women with an interest in cyber security.

Craig’s third series, co-authored with Caity Randal, is The Shadow World A cyber awareness book created for primary school students and their teachers and carers, the book unpacks online safety in an engaging way to explore topics including cyberbullying, cyber stalkers, and strangers online. An instant bestseller, Craig secured industry support to put thousands of free copies in the hands of schools across the country.

Driven to shape the wider industry’s future for the better, Craig has served as an executive committee and board member for AISA for the last three years and a mentor for the Australian Women in Security Network. He was also an online learning adviser and unit coordinator in Western Sydney University’s Cyber Security program and a member of Charles Sturt’s Industry Advisory Panel, where he brings his considerable expertise and talent to enhance cyber security education for the next generation of industry professionals.