The Scottish Cyber Awards 2019

The hugely anticipated Scottish Cyber Awards, hosted by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC), is now in its fourth year and attracted more than 300 of the sector’s leaders across business, law-enforcement and academia.

This year saw over 100 applications from across the country, with a considerable number of entries submitted under the categories, ‘Outstanding Woman in Cyber’ and ‘Cyber Evangelist of the Year’.

Dominating the evening by picking up a double award was Emily Beeney, Vice-President in Technology Risk at Morgan Stanley, Glasgow.

Emily was firstly presented with the ‘Outstanding Woman in Cyber’ accolade, before being announced as the overall winner of the night when she was announced as the ‘Champion of Champions’ for her inspirational work in cyber security.

Speaking of her win, Emily said,

To be able to influence the younger generation to get into technology is so big and so rewarding.

Judge Eamonn Keane, Head of Cyber and Innovation at SBRC said on the night, “The Scottish Cyber Awards has once again cemented the immense talent we have in the cyber security industry in Scotland. It is a chance to showcase the everyday heroes who are demonstrating real leadership and ambition in their ideas, passion and drive to combat some of the issues we face in the current cyber landscape.

“I’m very proud of the achievements highlighted tonight and hope we can continue to inspire future generations into work in the cyber field. Speaking as a judge, we are always overwhelmed by the high calibre of applications and Emily’s was no exception.

“Emily inspires a generation of female leaders as an active STEM Ambassador, Women in Technology Chapter Leader and avid volunteer. Her technical skills, impactful solutions and commitment to giving back to the community made her our well-deserved winner of the night.”

The prestigious Cyber Evangelist of the Year Award was awarded to Toni MacKenzie and Clara O'Callaghan of The Turing Testers, who helped launch a nation-wide cyber treasure hunt to engage more schoolgirls with data science.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay delivered the keynote speech on the evening, praising nominees for their work protecting and educating the people of Scotland against cyber threats.

Also celebrating on the night were; FullProxy (Best Cyber StartUp), Maria Khokhar, Seric Systems (Best New Cyber Talent), Young Scot (Collaboration with Police Scotland), Quorum Cyber (Leading Light Innovation), Information Services, Strathclyde University (Outstanding Cyber Team).

The awards were backed by global sponsors, with this year’s headline support from Adarma alongside other key partners, CGI, Clydesdale Bank, SQA and SOPHOS.

The Scottish Cyber Awards was held on Wednesday 20 November at the Sheraton Hotel in Edinburgh.

THE WINNERS

Best Cyber Start Up FullProxy Outstanding Woman in Cyber Emily Beeney, Morgan Stanley Best New Cyber Talent Maria Khokhar, Seric Systems Best Cyber Breakthrough Edinburgh Napier University/Cyan Forensics Collaboration with Police Scotland Young Scot Cyber Evangelist of the Year Toni MacKenzie and Clara O'Callaghan, Turing Testers Cyber Security Teacher of the Year Toni Scullion, St Kentigerns Academy Leading Light Innovation Quorum Cyber Best Cyber Education Programme NCSC-Certified Undergraduate and GCHQ-Certified Postgraduate Programme in Cybersecurity Outstanding Cyber Team Cyber Security Team - Information Services, Strathclyde University Best Customer Experience (public vote) Check Point Software Technologies LTD Champion on Champions Award Emily Beeney, Morgan Stanley Glasgow

For more information on the Scottish Cyber Awards 2019 visit www.scottishcyberawards.co.uk

Championing the cyber scene

Business Resilience Magazine recently caught up with Scottish Cyber Awards Champion, Emily Beeney to chat about her big win and what inspires her work in STEM.

As Vice-President in Technology Risk at Morgan Stanley in Glasgow, Emily Beeney leads the cyber analytics team with a focus on the detection of potentially malicious activity within their network.

Having spent seven years working within forensic investigation teams for the finance industry, Emily is well versed in the subjects of insider and adversarial tradecraft. Part of Emily’s work is to successfully build both statistical models to identify anomalies within security logs and high-grade alerts for when known malicious actions occur. Having been absorbed in technology from a young age, this cultivated Emily’s enthusiasm and led to her work as an active STEM Ambassador. “STEM subjects caught my imagination from a young age, whether it was learning to code with my grandad or playing with circuit boards with my dad.” She said. “For me, the opportunity to stand in front of young people and try to pass on some of the magic which my family created for me, is so important.

It is so rewarding to be able to give back to your community in a meaningful way.

“In the last five years, I have run code clubs, developed and delivered custom cyber lesson plans, run intro to code sessions at numerous schools, supported teachers with Computing curriculum changes, given career talks - the list goes on. “If you aren’t currently signed up as an ambassador, I would definitely encourage you to think about it – it is so rewarding to be able to give back to your community in a meaningful way.”

Speaking of being crowned the ‘Champion of Champions’ and ‘Outstanding Woman in Cyber’ at the coveted Scottish Cyber Awards in November 2019, Emily admitted the wins were unexpected and had left her ‘overwhelmed’.

“Reading bios for all of the other finalists in the Outstanding Woman in Cyber category I was blown away by the female talent which Scotland has to offer and had my gracious runner up face planned - and practiced - for the evening.

“I am humbled to be provided with the platform to promote Cyber as a career path for young people and hope that I am able to use this honour to really inspire the next generation of Cyber professionals.”

In her award nomination Emily was commended for the work she’s involved in as a primary contributor to a pilot scheme with Girl Guides Glasgow. We asked her to tell us more about this project and what it sets out to do.

“This year, the Scottish Girl Guiding Association teamed up with Skills Development Scotland and Education Scotland to release the Digital Scotland Challenge badge. The Girl Guides’ own research showed that one in two girls think that STEM subjects are more for

boys and only 37% of those surveyed said that they would consider a career in technology. “In an attempt to combat this perception and shift the dial, the Digital Scotland Challenge badge was created to teach Guides about computers, algorithms, creativity and design, and to highlight the diversity of career opportunities within the tech industry.

“The pilot scheme, run by the Morgan Stanley Women in Technology Network, aimed to support local Girl Guide units to achieve the badge, by developing custom content, mapped to the badge criteria, to be delivered over four meetings – and we are aiming to roll this out further afield in 2020.”

This year Scottish Cyber Award judges were impressed at the representation of woman working in the cyber field, despite the industry still statistically being more male dominated. When asked if she felt the STEM industry is becoming a more attractive career path for women and if more needs to be done to encourage this at a younger age, Emily said:

“The calibre of the finalists for the Outstanding Woman in Cyber award this year was inspiring, and to me this demonstrates that there is no reason for the

Cyber industry to be male dominated from a capability perspective. Research has shown that gender biases are created from as young as five years old, and this is why, for me, focusing on primary school age young people is so important.”

And working with youngsters is something Emily is particularly passionate about, having been involved in Morgan Stanley’s ‘StepIn Step-Up programme and Young Scot’s DigiKnow campaign.

Speaking of the former, she said: “The StepIn Step-Up programme is an introductory one-day programme designed for female S4-

S6 students which I was really excited bring to Glasgow for the first time.

“The day gave an oversight into the different technology programmes Morgan Stanley offers, as well as providing the opportunity to partake in interactive challenges, panel sessions and career workshops.

“Technology careers are narrowly marketed in mainstream media, and I think that it is important to showcase the diversity of roles within technology to allow students to make an informed decision when selecting either their Highers or degree subject.”