NATO cyber team has been honoured in the SC Magazine's 2016 European cyber industry's most prestigious awards. The awards ceremony took place in London, UK, on 7 June 2016.
Mr Ian West, the NATO Communications and Information Agency Chief Cyber Security has won a trophy as the "Best Chief Information Security Officer". His team, the NCI Agency Cyber Security Service Line, qualified as "Highly Commended Security Team of the Year".
"Receiving the awards is of great value to me personally. It is a big success for the NATO Communications and Information Agency team, but it is also strong independent validation of the NATO Alliance's commitment to cyber defence,"
said Mr West. "Cyber threats are an enduring, dynamic challenge that NATO was early to recognize and is determined to meet!" he added.
Leading by example - one mission, one team
As part of a major NATO Agency reorganization (1 July 2012), Ian West was selected to construct and lead the team responsible for designing, implementing and operating all of NATO's cyber defence capabilities. This project brought together around 200 cyber staff members from different organizations and cultures and building a one-mission, one-team-oriented Service Line. Integration was achieved through a complete structural and process re-design, focusing on Agency and Alliance objectives, together with a very strong and transparent communications programme. Today, the NCI Agency Cyber Security Service Line provides efficient full lifecycle services across NATO's international locations and in support of the Allies. This includes defending NATO's networks 24/7, managing the development of new cyber capabilities in partnership with Industry and providing thorough and specialized cyber security subject matter expertise to NATO's IT programmes.
At the NATO Summit in Wales, the Alliance undertook to enhance its collective cyber defence by engaging with Industry, in particular with regards to information sharing, dissemination of best practices and cyber innovation. Mr West and his team have been instrumental in taking these political-level aspirations and turning them into tangible and effective collaboration programmes benefiting both Allied Industry and NATO. They are key contributors to the NATO Industry Cyber Partnership, leading the introduction of a cyber innovation pilot, designed to include Small and Medium Enterprises as well as larger companies. NATO and Industry have found new levels of collaboration thanks to this project.
"The NATO Communications and Information Agency has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with eight private sector companies and this experience has proven invaluable to us as we develop the NATO cyber industry partnership for the future," said Ambassador Sorin Ducaru, NATO Assistant Secretary General, Emerging Security Challenges Division.