The leaders responsible for protecting some of South Africa’s most critical digital environments have been recognised at the inaugural ITWeb Brainstorm CISO Awards.
Deidre Marais, CISO at the Western Cape government, was named Public Sector CISO of the Year, while Zaid Parak, group CISO at Discovery, and Manoj Puri, group chief security officer at Absa, shared the Enterprise CISO of the Year award.
The winners were announced last night at a banquet held at The Forum, Hyde Park, marking the launch of an awards programme aimed at recognising the growing strategic role of cyber security leaders in South Africa’s digital economy.
The ITWeb Brainstorm CISO Awards are designed to celebrate CISOs and executives with equivalent responsibility – the in-house cyber security decision-makers responsible for shaping security strategy and execution within their organisations.
Hosted by ITWeb Brainstorm, in partnership with Cisco and Splunk, the awards recognise the achievements of cyber security leaders over the past year.
Brainstorm has spent several years focusing on the evolving role of the CISO through initiatives including its CISO Directory, CISO Survey and dedicated roundtables. The awards extend this work by creating a platform to highlight the individuals leading cyber security resilience across the country.
“With the nature of the cyber landscape being one of constant evolution and continual threat of attack, CISOs are under relentless pressure,” says Matthew Burbidge, editor of Brainstorm.
“From our work across the ICT space, we know there are some excellent CISOs out there, and we wanted to provide a platform to celebrate them.”
Speaking at the event as an award sponsor, Smangele Nkosi, general manager and country leader for Cisco South Africa, highlighted the importance of cyber security leadership in enabling economic growth, digital transformation and national resilience.
“Their work is so vital to South Africa’s economic growth, digital transformation and national resilience. While much of their impact happens behind the scenes, it is felt every single day by the citizens, customers and communities they protect,” she said.
Nkosi congratulated the finalists, saying their leadership, vision and commitment to cyber excellence had earned the respect of their peers and set a standard for the industry.
Public sector accolade
Marais was recognised for her leadership in building cyber security capability within the Western Cape government, where her focus has been on strengthening trust, protecting critical infrastructure and securing citizen data.
She was shortlisted alongside Cheryl Modise, executive: IT governance, risk and compliance at Telkom; Tefo Moreki, group manager: cyber security and information at Airports Company South Africa; Siphokazi Novukuza, cyber security director at the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies; and Gugu Ntuli, IT security and infrastructure manager at the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Accepting the award, Marais said the recognition represented more than an individual achievement, acknowledging the support of her institution and cyber security team. “I would like to thank the Western Cape government and the team behind me.”
She noted the purpose behind cyber security is closely linked to building public trust. “When I start my day each day, I ask myself why am I doing cyber security, and what always comes to mind is our vision – to build a government that people can trust. Cyber security and trust go hand-in-hand.”
Marais said protecting critical infrastructure, government systems and citizen data is central to delivering reliable public services.
She also highlighted the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in cyber security operations. “Attackers are using AI and they are doing it at scale and at speed. As CISOs, it is important that we do the same – take the value that AI can bring and disrupt attackers with that same speed and scale.”
Marais pointed to AI-driven improvements within the security operations centre, including faster incident analysis, improved visibility and automation.
Shared enterprise recognition
The Enterprise CISO of the Year award was shared by Parak and Puri, recognising their leadership in securing large-scale enterprise environments.
The finalists in this category included Nelesh Baichan, CISO at Cell C; TFG CISO Suren Naidoo; and Justin Williams, group CISO at MTN Group.
Puri said the award is a reflection of the wider security team supporting him. “I’m pleasantly surprised and really honoured to be on stage here. This is not really for me − it’s actually for my team. I want to thank each and every one of them.
“The CISO job is hard, but I think the team that reports to the CISO, their job is harder.”
Parak described the recognition as a humbling acknowledgement, also crediting his team, partners and vendors supporting cyber security programmes.
“The success of the CISO in today’s world is purely from the support of our partners and vendors in this room and our teams – the passionate and diligent individuals who are grinding away every day. They make us look good,” he said.
The inaugural awards come as organisations face an increasingly complex threat landscape, with cyber security leaders now playing a central role in business continuity, regulatory compliance and digital transformation.
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