General Manager, Office of the Chief Information Security and Trust Officer Commonwealth Bank of Australia

What drew you to working in your chosen field?

Security is a dynamic field that is always changing, evolving and surprising. It is also at the heart of a customer's trust in your product or service. In financial services, I'm personally motivated by the protection of our customers money and personal information in light of the challenging threat landscape. And working for Australia's largest bank, I'm also motivated by our important role in contributing to a stronger Australian digital ecosystem.

Which of your many career achievements do you feel is your greatest and/or most exciting?

I've had the privilege of leading the Group's Digital and Cyber strategies over the last 4 years and I'm really proud of the impact the Group's digital assets (NetBank and the CommBank App) are having on customers' financial wellbeing. We have leading digital adoption and advocacy which is underpinned by a deep customer trust in the security of our platforms.

What would you say is the currently the biggest challenge facing the international cyber community?

The international cyber skills shortage is impacting all organisations and the answer isn't simple. I firmly believe part of the answer is attracting more diversity into the field and in particular, more women!

How could Australia further engage with our international partners to harness the opportunities of the digital age?

We need to secure the regional cyber ecosystem to better enable the growth of all our digital economies. This should include collaboration of intelligence sharing; capacity building initiatives to spread Australian expertise and establishing norms. I also think the collaboration between industry and universities (eg. CBA's SECedu partnership with UNSW) has created the opportunity for Australia to become a key exporter of Cyber skills.