(ISC)² Announces Showcased Honorees and Community Service Star Award of Tenth Annual ISLA Recognition Prog

Hong Kong, July 25, 2016 — (ISC)²^® announces four distinguished information security initiatives and one Community Service Star recognition led by the honorees at its tenth annual Asia-Pacific Information Security Leadership Achievements (Asia-Pacific ISLA^®) Gala Dinner and Ceremony at Centara Grand at CentralWorld, Bangkok, Thailand on July 26.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, the ISLA program is held annually by (ISC)² in cooperation with the (ISC)² Asia-Pacific Advisory Council (APAC) to recognize outstanding leadership and achievements in workforce improvement by information security and management professionals in the Asia-Pacific region. 

The distinguished workforce initiatives showcased this year include: 

Information Security Educator Category Showcased Honoree and Community Service Star Awardee: 

Dr. Heejo Lee, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Korea University (KOREA)

Showcased Project: Less Vulnerabilities Make More Secure Software 

Over the past 25 years, Dr. Heejo Lee has consistently contributed to the advancement of security technologies for academia, private industries, and the national government through education, research, and industrial-academic cooperation projects in the field of cybersecurity. One of the missions for this showcased project is to train undergraduate and graduate students via project participation, and provide an automatic platform that enables non-security professionals and novice engineers to analyze vulnerabilities in all kinds of IoT devices. The project was launched in conjunction with the establishment of the Center for Software Security and Assurance.

“The project is for everyone in the world who can secure their own IoT devices by themselves! In my opinion, the possible contribution of the project is not only for the security community, but also for future society.,” says Dr. Lee. “I always think that I am a learner, instead of an educator. I am surprised to get an award as an educator! I would like to thank so many people who helped me all along.”

Managerial Professional for an Information Security Project Category Showcased Honoree: 

Kumpol Sontanarat, Director of ICT Department, Securities and Exchange Commission (THAILAND) 

Showcased Project: SEC Regulation on Information Security for Regulated Entities 

In 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commissions of Thailand (SEC) declared cybersecurity a major threat for the Thai capital market. Kumpol Sontanarat is the key person who helped motivate major changes for both regulated entities and top executives. Since the regulation is derived from governance of enterprise IT and international information security framework, the requirements mainly focus on governance and risk management. According to Sontanarat, getting buy-in from regulated entities was the major challenge in aspects of cost of implementation, practicality in implementation, and also efficiency of regulation enforcement 

“To be chosen as a Showcased Honoree is great honor to me. Recognition from (ISC)² has confirmed we are moving on the right track in implementing information security regulations for the Thai Capital Market.” says Mr. Sontanarat. “By doing so, the SEC could help optimize cyber risks in capital market so that regulated entities can serve their stakeholders to attain benefits realization, as well as achieving risk and resource optimization.”

Senior Information Security Professional Category Showcased Honoree:

Dongkeun Choi, Director, CISO, CPO, LOTTE Card Co., Ltd. (KOREA)          

Showcased Project: Devise Consignee Management Plan via Diagnosis and Assessment System Improvement     

Mr. Choi moved to Lotte Card from Lotte Information and Communication after Financial Supervisory Service, the financial regulator, requested the former company to designate a CISO following a privacy information leak in early 2014. At the beginning of his work at Lotte Card, he conducted company-wide consulting on information protection to figure out the company’s issues and vulnerabilities, as well as visited all of the company’s regional offices to find problems in the field. Mr. Choi maximized benefits by applying re-established and internalized project deliverables, procedures and processes to the group’s affiliates. Mr. Choi’s main mission was to establish a system to manage the consignees for credit card companies to protect privacy information.

“I’m deeply impressed by this honor, as this might be one of the highlights in my career for engaging in the field of information security for 28 years.” says Mr. Choi. “I thank everyone who has been part of this showcased project.”

Information Security Practitioner Category Showcased Honoree: 

Dr. Ching-Hao Mao, CCSK, OCPJWCD, SCJP, Section Manager, Institute for Information Industry (TAIWAN) 

Showcased Project: Big Data Analytics Platform Construction in 2nd-Tier Security Operation Center Project

Dr. Ching-Hao Mao led a team of over 20 security professionals to construct the first 2nd-tier SOC and correlated distributed agencies security log. He established a comprehensive big data analytics platform in security for the benefit of public and private sectors in Taiwan. Dr. Mao leverages the data mining, machine learning, statistical analysis, and big data analytics approaches to solve the difficult security problems  of advanced persistent threat, shadow IT in cloud and IoT security.

“Alleviating the cybersecurity concerns from different organizations is key to this project implementation. Our work is to strengthen their confidence. I am grateful to have the opportunity to execute this foresight plan. This Showcased Honoree honor gives me more energy to continue my practice in data analytics in cybersecurity,” says Dr. Mao. 

For a detailed list of all 2016 Asia-Pacific ISLA honorees, please  visit: https://www.isc2.org/News-and-Events/Press-Room/Posts/2016/08/18/Announces-Showcased-Honorees-and-Community-Service-Star-Award-of-Tenth-Annual-ISLA-Recognition-Prog

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About (ISC)² 

(ISC)² is an international nonprofit membership association focused on inspiring a safe and secure cyber world. Best known for the acclaimed Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP^®) certification, (ISC)² offers a portfolio of credentials that are part of a holistic, programmatic approach to security. Our membership, over 115,000 strong, is made up of certified cyber, information, software and infrastructure security professionals who are making a difference and helping to advance the industry. Our vision is supported by our commitment to educate and reach the general public through our charitable foundation – The Center for Cyber Safety and Education^TM. For more information on (ISC)², visit www.isc2.org, follow us onTwitter or connect with us on Facebook.   

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Media Contact:

Kitty Chung

(ISC)² Asia-Pacific

+852- 28506989

kchung@isc2.org