PICTURE: Tipperary native - one of the country's top cyber security experts - wins award

Paul Delahunty from county Tipperary has been named Security Leader of the Year at the CIO & IT Leaders Awards 2023.

Paul Delahunty, one of the country’s top cyber security experts, is Chief Information Security Officer at Stryve, a private cloud company in Carlow.

The CIO & IT Leaders Awards 2023 honours the finest IT and technology business leaders who have been championing change and innovation within their organisations. The black-tie ceremony took place at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin last night, 30th March 2023.

A CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) with 15 years of experience in information security, Paul has expertise in GDPR and DORA and is ISO 27001 certified.

Beyond this, Paul is well-known within the industry for his contributions to advocacy for improved national cybersecurity, education, EU and Government policy. he is a regular contributor to the media. 

Speaking at the Awards, Paul said: "I'm thrilled to be named Security Leader of the Year and to receive this recognition amongst my peers.

"Security is an exciting and fast pasted industry, constantly evolving with new and more sophisticated threats, especially with the rise of AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), the Internet of Threats, as I call it! So it keeps me on my toes. 

"If I could give one piece of advice to SMEs it would be to keep cyber security on your agenda. Make sure it’s discussed at every board meeting and every manager's meeting. Cyber security awareness is half the battle."

 Paul started his career as an engineer with Ericsson before venturing into the start-up world as Operations Director in the pioneering early days of cloud computing with moQom.

He later co-founded ThorsNet, a cybersecurity and compliance company which helped delivers accessible and affordable, secure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and GDPR or ISO27001 compliance to Irish SMEs grappling to adhere to the impending legislation coming into force.

More recently, he worked as Information Security and Audit Manager for Hostelworld before joining the team at Stryve.  

In his role as CISO at Stryve, Paul’s goal is to foster a cyber security-aware culture in businesses across Ireland and the EU.

Paul works closely with Stryve’s growing clientele in Ireland, the UK and Europe, managing an international team to deliver tailor-made cybersecurity services supporting businesses, including Government, EU and private contracts, in over 20 countries. 

 Paul is a Member of the Cyber Ireland SME Committee and shares his knowledge helping to build a cybersecurity community across the country which links with Cyber Ireland’s national activities.

Paul participates in regular meetings on topics such as identifying regional challenges, coordinating the key stakeholders across industry, academia and government, and feeding into Cyber Ireland’s national activities.

 Paul is also an active member of ICTTF (International Cyber Threat Task Force). The ICTTF is a not-for-profit initiative promoting a cyber security ecosystem in Ireland. He is currently undertaking further studies with the Cyber Risk Academy.