Finalists announced for Australia's 2025 Benchmark Security Awards

Australia’s leading security practitioners and program owners have been named as finalists in the 2025 Benchmark Security Awards, an annual recognition program run by iTnews in partnership with techpartner.news that celebrates excellence in cybersecurity leadership across government, energy, education, healthcare, finance, retail and not‑for‑profit organisations. The finalists list — spanning public‑sector cyber teams, critical infrastructure operators and large private enterprises — accompanies an expanded 2025 program that brings end‑user and partner tracks together for a conference and gala awards dinner at Doltone House, Hyde Park, Sydney on 6 November 2025.

Background / Overview​

The Benchmark Security Awards were designed to recognise the people and teams that have driven meaningful, measurable cyber programs inside Australian enterprises and government agencies. In 2025 the awards program is explicitly positioned to cover both end‑user security leadership and the partner community that supports them, with the event promoted as a combined effort between iTnews and techpartner.news. The awards programme includes a conference for finalists to present learnings and a gala dinner where winners will be announced and celebrated.
Key administrative facts confirmed in the organisers’ public materials:

• Date and venue: Gala dinner and conference on 6 November 2025 at Doltone House, Hyde Park, Sydney.
• Judging and timelines: iTnews editorial team plus guest judges evaluate entries; sponsors are publicly stated as not being involved in judging.
• Program format: finalists attend an afternoon conference session and winners are presented at the evening gala; finalists receive media coverage and promotional packs.

Note: the public announcement of finalists was published by iTnews and circulated across partner channels; where possible this article cross‑checked event and programme facts against the iTnews event pages and the awards’ media kit to verify date, venue and structure.

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Who made the 2025 finalists list​

iTnews published a sector‑by‑sector roster of end‑user finalists for the Security Leaders Awards. The list highlights individual security leaders (CISOs, heads of security, program leads) nominated across public sector and private sectors. The announcement names finalists in these categories: Government; Industrial & Energy; Education; Healthcare; Finance & Professional Services; Retail; and Not‑for‑Profit. The organisers note partner finalists (technology vendors, MSPs and consultancies) will be announced separately.
Highlights of the finalist roster (selected examples from the iTnews announcement):

• Government: Alexander An (City of Sydney), Maryam Shoraka (Sydney Trains), Peter Gigengack (Director Cyber Security, Dept. of the Premier & Cabinet WA), Sandeep Taileng (State Trustees), Sorin Toma (NSW Electoral Commission), Wigna Winston Fernando (City of Darebin).
• Industrial & Energy: Chris Pennycuick (Stanwell), Gus Campbell (BAE Systems), James Court (Cleanaway), Kevin Sheerin (Ampol), Nathan Morelli (SA Power Networks).
• Education: Andrew Hottes (Cranbrook School), Edward Messina (Monash University interim CISO), Robert Munoz (Dept. of Education Victoria).
• Healthcare: Daisy Wong (Medibank), George Kirby (Mercy Health), Marc Reinhardt (Icon Group), River Nygryn (HammondCare), Tharaka Perera (Estia Health).
• Finance & Professional Services: Daniel Muchow (La Trobe Financial), David Geber (Rest Super), Luke Ma (AIA Australia) and others.
• Retail: Chris Grisdale (hipages), Dinesh Velusamy (Wurth Australia), Ian Melton (Autoleague), Jumar Pando (Emeis Cosmetics / Aesop), Keyur Lavingia (Village Roadshow), Steven Rebello (Endeavour Group).
• Not‑for‑Profit: Angela Dunbar (Australian Red Cross), Doug Hammond (Uniting), Leana El‑Hourani (Mission Australia), Ross Adam Anicete (Fresh Hope Communities), others.

The full sector lists were published by iTnews as the official finalists announcement; partner finalists were not included in that release and will be published in a follow‑up announcement.

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What this list says about Australian cybersecurity leadership in 2025​

1. Leadership increasingly spans OT and IT disciplines​

The finalists include a noticeable share of operational technology (OT) and converged‑security leaders (for example, operational roles at Sydney Trains and energy utilities). This reflects a continuing trend: asset‑heavy sectors are shifting from siloed OT security projects to enterprise‑grade converged security programs that combine network, endpoint, identity and industrial controls. The award nominations indicate that judges are recognising leaders who can bridge IT and OT domains and demonstrate measurable resilience for critical services.

2. Sector breadth underlines risk diversification​

Finalists come from sectors that map directly to national critical infrastructure and citizen services: transport, energy, healthcare, elections and government services. This mix suggests maturity is spreading beyond traditional financial services and telco into sectors that carry direct social or economic risk. For defenders and vendors, it emphasises the need to tailor security investments to the operational realities and regulatory expectations of each vertical.

3. People and culture are prize‑worthy outcomes​

The awards’ judging criteria place explicit weight on stakeholder buy‑in, people management and culture as well as technical delivery. That tilts recognition toward leaders who deliver practical, adoptable security that reduces friction for users while building capability. The finalists list therefore offers a snapshot of programs that have combined executive sponsorship with workforce‑facing controls and training.

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Why these awards matter — strengths and signals​

• Recognition raises the profile of security leadership beyond the SOC. Awards like Benchmark position CISOs and security leaders as strategic partners to their organisations, reinforcing the expectation that cyber risk discussion happens at board level and in business planning cycles.
• The awards programme deliberately separates partner and end‑user tracks while staging them together — a format designed to encourage cross‑pollination between practitioner learnings and vendor capabilities. That structure can accelerate procurement maturity by shifting conversations from features to outcomes.
• Sponsors and media coverage amplify finalist stories into case studies that other organisations can learn from. iTnews’ media kit highlights that finalists will present their projects at the afternoon conference session and gain follow‑up editorial coverage — a useful mechanism for peer knowledge transfer.

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Risks, conflicts and areas to watch​

Sponsorship and perception​

The awards are sponsored by a number of commercial vendors; the programme materials explicitly state sponsors have no role in judging. Even so, when industry awards are sponsored by vendors those relationships can create perception risks, especially if a sponsor later becomes involved with winning projects or finalist organisations. Judges and organisers should continue to make transparent disclosures and keep the judging process documented and auditable to retain credibility.

Verification and claims‑checking​

Media announcements sometimes summarise complex programs into short blurbs. While an awards finalist status is a legitimate recognition, the specific claims about program outcomes (dollars saved, incidents averted, MTTR reductions) are frequently vendor‑ or entrant‑reported and may not be independently audited. Readers and procurement teams should treat awards as a starting signal for vendor shortlists, not as replacement for technical due diligence or contractually proven outcomes. Where entrants cite metrics in public finalist pages, organisations should seek supporting evidence during procurement.

Overemphasis on awards as procurement proof​

Being a finalist signals leadership and recognition; it does not alone demonstrate a program’s repeatability, security efficacy under adversary pressure, or compliance posture. Security teams should ensure that awards and the publicity that follows are complemented by rigorous third‑party assessment, red‑team results, and contractual security requirements in any subsequent vendor relationships.

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What finalists and attendees should expect from the event​

Attending the Benchmark Security conference and awards will likely deliver three immediate benefits for finalists and delegates:

• Brief, public case studies from finalist presentations that highlight program choices and lessons learned.
• Networking with peers and potential technology partners during the afternoon sessions and VIP roundtables that precede the gala.
• Media exposure via iTnews editorial coverage that can amplify recruitment, vendor engagement and internal stakeholder recognition for winners and finalists.

Practical advice for finalists preparing to present:

• Focus presentations on outcomes (reduction in business risk, resilience improvements, measurable user adoption) rather than only on product names.
• Prepare at least one reproducible artefact (metrics, process change, runbook excerpt) that demonstrates how success was achieved; judges evaluate execution and stakeholder buy‑in.

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Sponsors and ecosystem: who’s backing the programme​

iTnews named NinjaOne, Airlock Digital, Saviynt, Abnormal and Huntress among sponsors supporting the 2025 Benchmark Security Awards program. Sponsors feed the event budget, enable finalist attendance and often facilitate roundtables or themed sessions; the organisers publicly state sponsors have no influence over judging. This year’s media kit and event pages outline sponsor exposure tiers and the VIP table formats.
Independent confirmation of sponsor involvement is visible in sponsor communications and prior iTnews partnering history (for example, NinjaOne’s prior engagement with iTnews awards and press coverage of the Benchmark programme). Readers should note that sponsorships are typical for industry award programmes, but organisers must preserve an auditable separation between commercial relationships and judging panels.

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How to use the finalists announcement as a procurement or benchmarking input​

The finalists list is useful in three practical ways:

• Market shortlisting: use the finalists roster to identify organisations and leaders running relevant programs and invite them to supplier or peer briefings.
• Capability comparison: finalists’ public summaries and subsequent conference presentations can serve as compact case studies for capability comparisons across sectors.
• Talent spotting: finalists’ leadership profiles are recruitment and speaking‑engagement signals for organisations building security teams or professional development programmes.

A stepwise approach for buyers and CISOs:

• Map finalist programs against your own gaps and create a shortlist of finalists who operate in the same sector or with similar constraints.
• Request supporting documentation (architecture summaries, compliance assessments, incident playbooks) where program claims are material to procurement decisions.
• Run technical validation (PoC, penetration test, IR table‑top) before finalising vendor or partner selection.

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Cross‑checking facts and caveats​

This article verified the following load‑bearing facts against iTnews pages and the iTnews awards media kit: the event date (6 November 2025), venue (Doltone House, Hyde Park), programme format (finalists’ conference + gala dinner) and that the end‑user finalist list was published with partner finalist announcements pending. These confirmations are drawn from the iTnews Security Awards pages and associated media materials. Readers should note that the organisers’ pages are the authoritative source for changes to dates, venues or finalist lists.
Unverifiable or entrant‑reported claims (for example, internal program savings or security telemetry improvements cited by entrants) were not independently audited for this article; such operational metrics should be validated through due diligence when they are used as procurement or compliance evidence. Where specific numerical claims appear in finalist summaries, treat them as entrant assertions unless backed by third‑party attestation.

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Broader implications for Australia’s security community​

The 2025 finalists lineup illustrates a maturing national cyber posture that blends public sector stewardship, OT resilience and private‑sector innovation. For the security community this signals a few enduring trends:

• Convergence is the new baseline: IT and OT security leaders are expected to operate across both domains.
• People and culture matter: judges are explicitly valuing leaders who create resilient teams and adoptable controls.
• Outcome‑driven vendor conversations: partner finalists (to be announced) will find themselves competing on the strength of measurable outcomes and post‑deployment support rather than feature checkboxes.

As awards season accelerates industry discussion, the security community must ensure that recognition translates into reproducible improvements in readiness, not simply PR. That means winners and finalists should publish technical learnings and post‑event artefacts that other organisations can adopt and adapt, while buyers continue to insist on independent verification of claims.

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Conclusion​

The 2025 Benchmark Security Awards finalists list spotlights Australia’s active roster of security leaders working across government, critical infrastructure, healthcare, education and the not‑for‑profit sector. The programme’s combined conference and gala format offers finalists exposure and the chance to share practical learnings; at the same time, buyers and peers should treat awards recognition as a directional signal rather than a substitute for technical validation. With the partner finalists still to be announced and the awards night set for 6 November at Doltone House in Sydney, the coming weeks will be important both for finalists preparing their conference presentations and for attendees looking to draw practical lessons from Australia’s leading security programs.

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(Readers seeking the official finalists page, event registration details or sponsor information should consult the iTnews Benchmark Security Awards pages and the event media kit for the most current information.)

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Source: iTnews Announcing the 2025 Benchmark Security Awards Finalists