The South East Cyber Resilience Centre (SECRC) is pleased to announce Glen Hymers, Global Chief Information Security Officer and Head of Data Protection for Save the Children as our newest Board Member.
Glen has spent his working life involved in policing and security, he fell into policing of a fashion joining the RAF Police in 1998 when he discovered university was expensive and was not suited to him.
During his time in the RAFP Glen was employed in all aspects of policing, finally settling into the role of counter intelligence, responsible for carrying out counter-espionage and counter terrorism duties for the RAF in the UK and abroad.
Glen parted ways with the RAF as a regular in 2012 as part of the Strategic Defence Review of that year and began his journey into the private sector with stops at Fujitsu Defence and National Security as their Head of Operational Security & Risk Management, before moving to Sopra Steria as Head of Operational Security for Government accounts.
In 2016 he moved to the Prince’s Trust taking up the role of Chief Security and Risk Officer as well as being appointed as the DPO in 2017. After a successful tenure at The Prince’s Trust during which he introduced both GDPR and Cyber Essentials Plus at the organisation, he moved to Save The Children International where he is currently employed as the Global Chief Information Security Officer and Head of Data Protection.
In his spare time, Glen is still an active member of the RAF Reserve having completed two operational tours abroad, one in 2014 to Afghanistan as part of Op HERRICK and again in 2018 to Cyprus as part of Op SHADER. Most recently he has been deployed to Op RESCRIPT the UK Government response to COVID-19, during which he was a Mobile Testing Unit Commander running testing sites in the East of England. When he is not doing this, he is an advocate for all things Cyber Security and especially getting the basics right, as from the basics comes good security!
Commenting on the appointment, Director of SECRC Justin Torgout said: “It is fantastic to announce Glen Hymers as our latest SECRC Board Member. Save the Children are such an inspirational organisation and we are really honoured to have them represented on our Board. The wealth of experience and knowledge Glen has accumulated across his career in both the private and public sectors will be invaluable to myself as the Director, but also to the wider SECRC team as we continue to grow the organisation.
I am looking forward to working with Glen to shape our future to tackle the threat of cybersecurity across the South East and through the broader CRC network.”
When asked about his appointment to the SECRC Board, Glen said: “I wanted to join the board of the recently created South East Cyber Resilience Centre as I am strong believer in getting the basics right in the security arena. The combination of the SECRC and Cyber Essentials is a strong one through which the message about the importance of Cyber Security and how to achieve the level to keep SME’s and Charities as safe as they can be is one that I wanted to be a part of from the beginning”.
The SECRC is an innovative not for profit partnership between policing, academia and private industry, committed to helping protect businesses in the South East region from cybercrime.
The SECRC joins a growing network of regional centres being established as part of a national roll out to provide businesses of all sizes with access to affordable cyber security services, the latest advice and support from leading law enforcement and industry experts and help them take simple steps to protect their business from unscrupulous cyber criminals.
The SECRC offers a range of membership options to businesses in the region including a free Core Membership for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Sign up on the website today to access cyber Security support, guidance, and tools.