ECSO’s Women4Cyber initiative won the prestigious “2019 Cyber Security Nordic Award”
The award was presented to Women4Cyber Council Member Nina Hyvärinen and ECSO Secretary General Luigi Rebuffi on stage at the Cyber Security Nordic 2019 conference.
Women4Cyber was selected by a jury consisting of Marko Hautakangas, Vice President, Cyber Security at Insta Defsec, Timo Kekkonen, Managing Director of The Finnish Electrical Safety Board STEK, Juha Remes, Executive Director of the Finnish Information Security Cluster, Anni Vepsäläinen, Managing Director of Messukeskus, Marjaana Virkkala, Director at F-Secure, and Tua Huomo, Executive Vice President at VTT. The award was funded by the Finnish Fair Foundation, F-Secure, Insta Defsec and The Finnish Electrical Safety Board STEK ry.
This year’sdominant criteria in selecting the winner were increasing the visibility and significance of cybersecurity, international influence, promoting cyber expertise globally, and impact.
The jury considered international networking very important for the promotion and dissemination of cybersecurity information. At present, there are relatively few women in technological fields, and by awarding Women4Cyber for the 2019 edition, the jury hopes for this to change.
The EUR 25,000 received with the 2019 Cyber Security Nordic Award will go to the Women4Cyber “Mari Kert-Saint Aubyn” Foundation,
the official legal entity of the initiative that supports the implementation of tailored actions under the strategic guidance of the Women4Cyber Council.
Nina Hyvärinen, Member of the Women4Cyber Council, upon accepting the award on behalf of Women4Cyber along with Luigi Rebuffi (ECSO), said: “This is a remarkable achievement and recognition for this important initiative. To attract more women in cybersecurity we need visibility and role models. This award enables us to implement concrete actions in this regard and will surely pave the way for other exciting opportunities for Women4Cyber”
Cyber Security Nordic, organised in Helsinki by the Finnish Information Security Cluster (FISC) and Messukeskus, is an annual conference focusing on the problem-solving strategies and solutions for cybersecurity professionals. For the second year in a row, the Cyber Security Nordic is giving its Award to an individual or an actor who has contributed significantly to the development of the cybersecurity industry, innovated new practices in the field or otherwise promoted cybersecurity and awareness of the industry in Finland and globally.
