The Privacy Commissioner, university lecturers, a computer scientist and the heads of both Netsafe and InternetNZ have been named on the judging panel for the inaugural iSANZ New Zealand information security awards.

The seven-person panel will assess the shortlisted entries across five categories in the New Zealand's first specialist InfoSec awards.

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards, Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker and InternetNZ chief executive Jordan Carter will be joined by Victoria University lecturer Ian Welch, Waikato University lecturer Ryan Ko, industrial researcher Paul Watters and Auckland University computer scientist Peter Gutmann.

The awards recognise excellence in New Zealand's information security industry, and aim to shine a spotlight on the work being carried out across the spectrum in New Zealand.

Kendra Ross, iSANZ committee chair, says in this age of ‘always on, online', the need to keep networks safe from criminal and malicious activity is more important than ever.

“There's an army of New Zealand InfoSec professionals beavering away making valuable contributions to the safety and security of computer networks here and overseas,” Ross says.

“The judges will sure have their work cut out,” she adds.

Entries for the awards close at noon on Friday October 30, with nominations for the Hall of Fame category open right up until the day of the awards.

Awards up for grabs include Best International Superstar, for individuals who have achieved ‘significant' results in the development or promotion of security work that has had a high international profile.

The Best Security Project/Initiative is open to companies and organisations who have successfully deployed and implemented an InfoSec project or initiative or who have successfully initiated best InfoSec practices.

The Best Security Awareness Campaign award will be presented to a company or organisation which has successfully deployed a formal security awareness program covering outreach, education and assistance in order to raise awareness of InfoSec nationally, while the Best Security Company of the Year will go to a security company ‘with superior security products or solutions that help customers tackle today's most pressing InfoSec challenges'.

The Hall of Fame nominated category is open to a person, event or company which has made a significant contribution to the wider InfoSec community.

The awards have also garnered a who's who of backers, including gold sponsor Check Point, and silver sponsors Arbor Networks, EY.com, BlueCoat, KPMG, Cyber Services, Microsoft, PwC and Quantum Security. Meanwhile supporting organisations are 1st Tuesday, Connect Smart, the Domain Name Commission, Duo, InternetNZ, the New Zealand Internet Task Force and SiteHost.

The awards will be presented at a gala dinner in Wellington on 08 December.

For more information head to iSANZ's website.