Sri Lanka CERT CEO Lal Dias honoured with top Award

Monday, 18 August 2014 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team Coordination Centre CEO, Lal Dias was honoured with a top Asia-Pacific Information Security Leadership Achievements (ISLATM) award recently. The award, a recognition of the distinguished information security leadership initiatives, was given at the eighth annual Asia-Pacific ISLA Program Gala Dinner and ceremony in Beijing, China. The ISLA program is held annually by the IT Certification and Security Experts (ISC)² (‘ISC-squared’) (ISC)² in cooperation with the (ISC)² Asian Advisory Board. ISC is the largest not-for-profit membership body of certified information and software security professionals and has over 100,000 members worldwide. The program aims at

recognising outstanding leadership and achievements in workforce improvement of information security and management professionals in the Asia-Pacific region. Sri Lanka CERT CEO Lal Dias was honoured with the Managerial Professional in Information Security award as a showcased honoree for the distinguished workforce initiatives that he has undertaken in Sri Lanka Following an initiative by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the apex body for ICT in Sri Lanka, Lal was instrumental in the establishment of Sri Lanka CERT in 2006. He was involved in a number of workforce improvement initiatives to build human resource capacity to counter cyber crime in Sri Lanka. He has a wealth of experience in the information security field, having worked in the banking industry for more than two decades. In recent times, he initiated the establishment of the Computer Security Incident Response Team for the banking sector (Bank CSIRT) in Sri Lanka, which serves as a security governance body for its constituents. Lal persuaded the banks in Sri Lanka to embrace the idea of the Bank CSIRT project. He did so by making bank CEOs realise that it would help not only the banks, but also enhance the information security posture of the nation as a whole. “It is indeed an honor for me, my fellow team members at Sri Lanka CERT | CC and the (ISC)2 Colombo Chapter to be a recipient of this award,” said Lal Dias. Formed in 1989 and celebrating its 25th anniversary, (ISC) is the largest not-for-profit membership body of certified information and software security professionals worldwide, with over 100,000 members in more than 135 countries. Globally recognised as the Gold Standard, (ISC2 issues the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and related concentrations, as well as the Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP), the Certified Cyber Forensics Professional (CCFPSM), Certified Authorisation Professional (CAP), HealthCare Information Security and Privacy Practitioner (HCISPPSM), and Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) credentials to qualifying candidates. (ISC2)’s certifications are among the first information technology credentials to meet the stringent requirements of ISO/IEC Standard 17024, a global benchmark for assessing and certifying personnel. (ISC2) also offers education programs and services based on its CBK, a compendium of information and software security topics. Founded in 2006, the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team | Coordinating Centre (Sri Lanka CERT|CC), a fully owned subsidiary of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, is mandated with the protection of Information and Information Systems in Sri Lanka. Its services range from responding to and investigating information security breaches, to preventing security breaches by way of awareness creation, security assessments and security capability building. It is a member and the national point of contact, for both the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) and the Forum of Incident Response Security Teams (FIRST), which are regional and global associations respectively, formed to coordinate security efforts between nations.