Finalists announced for Secure Computing Awards and AusCERT

Panel chair and editor-in-chief of Secure Computing Magazine Nate Cochrane said the finalists represented the best of breed in IT security.

"It was often a tough choice between the submissions and led to much debate within the panel," Cochrane said. "But certain names kept coming up in conversation as market leaders."

The finalists for the inaugural SC Awards are:

Vendor of the year
Awarded to the vendor that provided the greatest value across its solutions.

• Websense
• Fortinet
• Sophos

Product of the year
Awarded to the product that has made a measurable impact on IT security.

• Qualys Qualysguard
• MailMarshal Exchange
• MessageLabs email services
• Symantec Endpoint Protection
• Websense Web Security Gateway

Innovation Award
Awarded to the submission that showed a new way to think about IT security issues.

• Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls
• McAfee Artemis
• ATO vulnerability management team

The winners will be announced on May 19 at the SC Awards Dinner and Presentation at the Royal Pines Resort in conjunction with the AusCERT 2009 conference.

For more information, visit the SC Awards website.

Finalists in the AusCERT awards categories are: 

AusCERT director's award for individual excellence in Information Security 

• Boaz Fischer - CommsNet Group
• Paul Ducklin, Sophos Pty Ltd
• Shaun Vlassis, Shadowsever/Honeynet Project
• Ben Reardon, National Australia Bank
• Brian Hay, Fraud and Corporate Crime Group, State Crime
• Operations Command, Queensland Police Service
• Bruce van der Graaf, Fraud Sqaud, NSW Police Service

 AusCERT's annual award for organisational excellence in Information Security

•  DMZGlobal (TelstraClear Ltd), New Zealand
• Stratsec, Australia
• NAB-CERT (National Australia Bank CERT), Australia
• Internet Content and Security Unit, ACMA

 AusCERT's Award for law enforcement

•  Computer Crime Investigation Unit, Fraud and Corporate Crime Group State Crime Operations Command, Queensland Police Service
• Computer Crime Investigation Unit, Commercial Crime Agency, Fraud Squad, NSW Police Service

AusCERT director Nick Tate offered his congratulations to the finalists.

"This group represents the best in the Australian information security industry and they deserve to be recognised for their efforts," he said.