CSIRO's Data61 Sci + Tech in the City series: Cybersecurity Innovation

I had the absolute pleasure of presenting as part of CSIRO's Data61 Sci + Tech in the City series on Thursday. The topic was 'Cybersecurity Innovation' and I was one of three speakers, along with Chris Leckie (University of Melbourne) and Liming Zhu (Data61). 

I presented my own story of how I grew up here in Melbourne dreaming of a successful corporate executive career and never expected to find myself working in the cyber security industry at all. I spoke about my transition over the past dozen or so years from being a corporate insurance broker to insurance manager to risk manager to intrapreneur and finally now as an entrepreneur and Co-founder of Cynch Security.

In every technology 

...find the human element.

I used my story to help paint a picture of the different kinds of people that are needed within the cyber security space, and to highlight the passion we here at Cynch Security have for "finding the human" in every problem - even when that problem is technology. After listening to and conducting dozens of interviews with Australian small business owners, we are more certain than ever that by approaching cyber security with people in mind we are going to be able to help many address the cyber risks that are prevalent in their business.

The feedback from those who attended the presentation was enthusiastic and we've been able to connect with many who either want to help develop Cynch Security and get us to launch, or alternatively those who know small business owners that could use our upcoming service. It was wonderful to receive such a positive response from many within the industry and particularly to be able to give back to Data61 for all the support they have provided us during 2017. 

All in all, it was exactly the push we needed to work even harder to bring this business to launch, and we're excited about the future in front of us. 

Keep an eye out for our news about re-launching our new-and-improved regular newsletter, as well as information on how to access our beta trial of our first security pathway on 'Password Management'.