University of Waikato cyber security expert to be honoured

The head of the Cyber Security Researchers of Waikato is being honoured for his work in the cyber security field.

Dr Ryan Ko, of the University of Waikato, set up New Zealand's first Master of Cyber Security degree. He is one of 30 people being honoured by (ISC)2, a non-for-profit membership body of certified information an software security professionals.

Ko is recognised in the managerial professional for an information security project category of the Asia-Pacific Information Security Leadership Achievements Program.

Organisers say the programme provides a unique platform to showcase information security leaders who are dedicated to advancing the industry and inspiring the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

Ko will receive his award at the ISC2 conference in the Philippines later this month.

The award recognises Ko's contributions to security education and research through Waikato University and the Cloud Security Alliance, most recently as one of the pioneers who developed the new (ISC)2-CSA Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certification's common body of knowledge (CBK) and examinations over 18 months from 2013 to 2014.

It is the latest in a string of awards for Ko, the university says.

In 2012 he received the Ron Knode Service Award for his volunteer efforts with the not-for-profit Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), which promotes best practices for providing security assurances within cloud computing.

The following year he received the Outstanding Leadership Award for organising the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) Symposium on Trust and Security in Cloud Computing for the previous three years.

At the 2014 University of Waikato Staff Excellence awards, Ko received the Early Career Excellence, Faculty Teaching Excellence and Nola Campbell Memorial eLearning Excellence awards.

Ko says his latest award is humbling but provides further international recognition of the cyber security research being undertaken at the University of Waikato.

"While it is nice to be recognised as among the leaders in this rapidly changing environment, this award shows yet again that what we are doing at the University of Waikato will play an important part in the future of this exciting field.

Ko and his team are now preparing for the second New Zealand Cyber Security Challenge, being held at the University of Waikato in September.