Mike Boutwell

Giving Practical guidance to help aspiring cyber professionals start a lucrative career in cybersecurity.

➤ Serving in the capacity of a CISO to deliver key security related business strategy
➤ Presented security management reports to C-Level and auditors to address findings and close gaps. 
➤ Defined security requirements for customer systems and implemented security policies and SOPs.
➤ Developed company wide security requirements and selected third party tools aligned to needs.
➤ Led hackathons creating opportunities for software development teams to collaborate on projects. 
➤ Networked and stakeholder management to secure new business opportunities and win contracts.

Key Achievements
➤ Secured work with public and private financial service companies with 1000+ staff across UK and Europe. 
➤ Consistently achieved and maintained technology compliance rates of over 95% in diverse enterprises.
➤ Oversaw security and risk assessment for a national clearing house managing assets valued at $27 trillion.

Senior Information Security Consultant

Euroclear

➤ Overseeing critical initiatives to assure delivery is in line with risk tolerance
➤ Conducting risk assessments for critical business applications and processes
➤ Collaborating with executive stakeholders to apply risk management strategy
➤ Development and management of board level KRIs

Senior Information Security Risk Manager 

➤ Conduct risk assessments for critical financial applications and documents weaknesses for review.
➤ Design and develop security requirements based on the outcome of business impact assessments. 
➤ Work in collaboration with the CISO to build and create security requirements in line with NIST CSF.
➤ Assess third party risk in business and cloud applications and make best practice recommendations.

Key Achievements
➤ Lead for cyber risk assessments on bots and artificial intelligence
➤ Risk assessment of a critical financial application vital to capital markets processing $1Q annually.
➤ Identification of critical risks resulting in RFP to seek a new vendor to remediate open vulnerabilities.

Principal Information Security Consultant - CISO IT Risk

Takeda

➤ Digital transformation project lead in the setup of a US client’s Innovation Capability Centre in Slovakia.
➤ Defined the baseline security standards, security standard toolsets, and phased out unnecessary tools.
➤ Developed supporting SOP and policy documentation and standards and secured approval for rollout.
➤ Established endpoint protection team, a SIEM/SOAR capability, and vulnerability management program. 

Key Achievements
➤ Led global security standard for on-prem and cloud security deployments for digital transformation.
➤ Designed and implemented an executive dashboard to provide a data-driven security program.
➤ Improved executive decision making by enabling access to critical real time data and information. 
➤ Facilitated introductions for executives with Slovakian contacts helping growth from 30 to 300 staff. 
➤ Recruited and trained endpoint protection team overseeing 60,000 workstations and 120,000 servers.

Endpoint Security Team Lead

AT&T

➤	Led the security and IT strategy for the WPP Plc. account agile team, architects, and 30 engineers.
➤	Managed all client services to deliver secure architectures across EMEA, US, and APAC regions. 
➤	Worked in collaboration with the client CIO to implement technical solutions to drive cost reduction. 
➤	Technical SME conducting security analytics, control assessments, vulnerability, and risk assessments. 
➤	Mentored network team and architects to drive professional development and delivery to meet KPIs.

Key Achievements
➤	Transitioned WPP Plc. to enable a work from home setup in response to Covid from scratch.
➤	Created standardised workflows to deliver fast but consistent results for high priority projects.
➤	Appointed as Global Agile Team lead delivering a backlog of work and greatly reducing costs.

Senior Information Security Architect - Global Agile Program Lead

➤ Lead for the Citizens Financial Group account and the technology lead for the network engineers.
➤ Risk assessment and audit to identify all in scope assets and assessed existing configuration and gaps.
➤ Audited accounts to assess security posture, conducted risk assessments, and proposed improvements.
➤ Designed complex secure architectures in campus, WAN, data centres, SDN, and wireless environments.
➤ Produced documentation for RFP, RFI, and proposals, and architectural lead for projects over $100M.
➤ Developed security reference architectures aligned to business strategy and PCI-DSS requirements.

Key Achievements
➤ Achieved PCI-DSS compliance in a complex banking environment reducing enterprise IT risk by 68%.
➤ Responded to an RFP for Dow Chemicals architecting a secure solution resulting in a $100M contract. 
➤ Resolved instability issues which led to outages on 1200 ATMs and implemented enhanced logging.

Senior Network Security Architect - Lead for Citizens Financial Group

First Data Corporation

➤ Secured card and payment systems and networks in compliance with PCI-DSS on two continents.
➤ Strategic lead for disaster recovery planning, testing, and regulatory compliance for payment hubs.
➤ Compliance management including pre-testing, fault finding, resolutions, and regulator liaison. 
➤ Implementation and technical solutions for switches, routers, firewalls, VPNs, and load balancers.

Key Achievements
➤ Lead for 20 EMEA core credit card processing hubs exclusively managing London and South Africa. 
➤ Designed secure data centre and colocation architectures for multiple EMEA countries hubs.  
➤ Developed and rolled out cybersecurity policies and SOPs across EMEA to protect financial data.

Senior Network Security Engineer

T-Systems International GmbH

➤ Supervised the team and implemented security policies in a multi-vendor firewall environment.
➤ Network design SME providing input and advice on a wide range of critical business services.
➤ Deployed secure applications through engineering load balancing services for business continuity.
➤ Conducted risk assessments and made recommendations on best practice technology solutions. 

Key Achievements
➤ Project managed the deployment of the first 4G network in Europe for T-Systems International.
➤ Migration of a large-scale payment service to a greenfield ultra-low latency environment.
➤ Implemented network-based services for EverythingEverywhere’s search oriented architecture suite.

Network Security Engineer

Two words sum up my mission in information security: trust and expertise. With 15 years of security and 10 years of risk management experience under my belt, I've been fortunate enough to work with leading organizations like Cisco, AT&T, IBM, Kyndryl, First Data, and Euroclear.

My portfolio:

→ I help financial services firms secure their business and improve performance metrics with ISO 27001
→ Assessing AI risks in large complex environments and providing solutions to use AI in a risk-aware manner
→ I train teams and organizations on ISO 27001 implementation and auditing. 
→ Speaks to more than 30,000 people annually
→ Coaches and helps young professionals start and enhance their cybersecurity careers

My results:

→ Secured assets worth over $1 quadrillion
→ Delivered projects worth over $100M
→ Recently completed a major project with a world-renown vendor addressing cloud security risks
→ Consistently achieved security compliance rates of over 95% in diverse enterprises
→ Advised on the development of an innovative CNAPP security solution with a major vendor
→ Author of the Ransomware Handbook and Profit-Driven Cybersecurity

→ Contact: https://www.mikeboutwell.com/contact
→ X: @mikeboutwell4

RED 5

Interim CISO

Exertis UK

•	Risk Management

•	Vulnerability Management

•	Stakeholder Engagement

•	Third-Party Risk Management:

Chief Information Security Officer

Travel Counsellors

Information and Cyber Security Manager

Greater Manchester Police

Information Security and Risk Manager

The University of Manchester

SENIOR CYBERSECURITY MANAGEMENT: Extended IT Leadership Team Member working for a large UK university institution (single site university campus with 100+ buildings) supporting 10,000 employees, 40,000+ students and day-to-day cybersecurity operations, Security Operations Centre (SOC), Identity & Access Management and 24/7 monitoring (outsourced partners). Developed multi-skilled team (15 people) with relevant training accreditations. 

CYBERSECURITY FRAMEWORK: Established high-performance functions and capability in a state-of-the art Security Operations Centre for cyber monitoring, performance reporting (analytics) and embedding best practice processes. High resilience security for all technology platforms, applications and databases, including major incidents, emerging threats, vulnerability management, escalation processes, damage limitation, remediation and root cause analysis. 

CYBERSECURITY CAPABILITY: Implemented Forensics Lab to track, monitor and root cause issues (i.e. Attacks, Threats, Malware, Compromises & Systems Hardware), SIEM software (automated real-time threat monitoring), threat intelligence, controls (vulnerabilities) and penetration testing (ethical hacking; Red Team Testing). Introduced KPIs / SLAs for monitoring companies and action plans (system upgrades and patches). Evaluated AZURE & AWS platforms and cloud solution cybersecurity roadmap.

ID & ACCESS MANAGEMENT:  Managing ID security systems, access permissions and clearances for all staff, buildings (automated barriers), IT systems (log-ons) and contractors with technical support, incidents, alerts and monitoring tools. Implemented IDAM Strategy Roadmap with new Microsoft ID Manager system (cloud integration).

CYBERSECURITY GOVERNANCE: Working closely with the Information Governance Team on data classification, policies and procedures, including GDPR, data management and PCI DSS security compliance. Created Cyber-Awareness Week with regular communications and relevant information.

Senior Cybersecurity Manager

IT INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT: Managed core infrastructure for Data Centres, Storage Systems, Databases (20 major databases), Web Infrastructure (600 websites), UNIX Operating Systems and back-end processes. Included critical systems and databases for HR, Finance, Student Systems, Back-Office Applications and Data Warehouse.

IT SECURITY & CORE INFRASTRUCTURE: Managed IT infrastructure security requirements, storage back-ups, resilience testing, disaster recovery planning and business continuity management. Included regular systems checks, security audits (checklists) and systems hardening (i.e. closing ports, password encryption and SSL certificates).  

IT GOVERNANCE & BEST PRACTICE: Embedded best practice, data governance and optimised processes for all in-house systems. Included core systems monitoring, uptime (availability), KPI / SLA performance and dashboard reporting (analytics). Reviewed systems performance, uptime and availability, incidents / critical issues (root cause analysis), upgrades (patches) and IT infrastructure investments. Added budget management responsibility.

EXTENDED IT LEADERSHIP TEAM MEMBER: Wider involvement on all aspects of strategy development, technology roadmap and capability building. Led transformation projects to embed new ways of working and technology solutions. Managed Virtualisation Project (migration to a new VPS platform and reduced overall IT footprint) and 
managed implementation phase for a £5M storage refresh project (introduced cloud capability with lower TCO). 

HIGH-PERFORMANCE TEAMS: Led multi-disciplinary team of Database Administrators and Systems Administrators (UNIX, Web Infrastructure and Storage Teams) to ensure resilient and secure day-to-day operations. Coached, trained and developed team members. Improved technical support functions and service delivery (KPIs & SLAs). Restructured teams and introduced a collaborative team-based culture (removed silos) with effective staff training (multi-skilling).

Infrastructure Team Lead (IT Infrastructure & Security) 

DATABASE MANAGEMENT: Managed University Oracle Enterprise Systems. Led team (8-10 people) on all day-to-day Oracle Administration tasks, including back-up, recovery, upgrades, patches and security requirements for critical databases supporting HR, Finance, Student Systems, Back-Office Applications and Data Warehouse.

DATABASES & SYSTEMS INFRASTRCUTURE: Performed major upgrades for core databases (20 major databases) and Oracle E-Business Suite (R11 & R12). Embedded best practice and managed RMAN (Oracle Recovery Manager), BAU tasks and standby databases.  Worked on various projects in close collaboration with Storage / UNIX Teams and contributed to hardware refreshes.

Database Services Team Lead (Oracle Enterprise Systems) 

City College Manchester

Senior Database Team Leader 

VIA Networks

Database & Infrastructure Team Leader

Co-operative Group Ltd, Manchester

Senior Database Administrator

Torex Retail

ORACLE Consultant 

Accrington & Rossendale College

Junior Database Administrator (SQL Analyst) 

I’m Sajid, a leader within the IT and Cybersecurity space with over 25 years of experience across corporate, academia and the public sector.

Leadership, for me, extends beyond mere oversight. It’s about leading from the front.  I've had the privilege of leading large teams and multi-million-pound projects that have delivered impact at scale. 

My focus is always on creating an environment where each member feels valued and empowered. The result is a cohesive unit that tackles challenges and can withstand even the most high-pressure environments. 

 I view my role in cybersecurity as an enabler of business objectives. Security should not be a barrier but a facilitator, that helps the organisation to achieve its goals. 

Asa CISO, influence for me is about more than just having a seat at the table; it's about contributing meaningfully to the conversation. Whether it's a board meeting or a technical review, my approach is to build consensus through clear communication and a deep understanding of the security issues at hand and develop strategies that grow the business, not just defend it. 

Here is a snapshot of my achievements to date:
•	Reduced the number of security vulnerabilities in an organisation by 60% within one year.
•	Matured the Security capability at the University of Manchester and implemented a 24/7 Security Operations Centre.
•	Initiated and embedded a comprehensive security awareness training programme that achieved a 90% completion rate across 1,200 members of staff. 

I have achieved CISSP, CISM, C-CISO.
Experience of NIST, ISO27001, Cyber Essentials

I’m currently open to new opportunities and would welcome the chance to network with industry professionals as well as recruiters seeking a leader who combines strategic vision with a proven ability to deliver results. 

Let’s connect and have a chat!

Sajid Iqbal

How many people work through the holiday period ?

I have been there, working all hours, thinking “I’m a soldier”

Two years ago, I realised I wasn’t “busy”… I was burnt out.

Not dramatic collapse, just quiet exhaustion:
➤ Waking up tired
➤ Working through lunch
➤ Saying “I’ll push through” on repeat

Burnout doesn’t arrive suddenly.

It accumulates in silence.

The workplace still rewards:
💀 long hours
💀 blurred boundaries
💀 employees who never say no

But nobody gets a trophy for burnout, just a recovery plan.

So what can we do?

Three simple shifts:
1️⃣ Ask “Is this realistic?” instead of “Can you stay late?”
2️⃣ Normalise honest check-ins: “I’m struggling — can we prioritise?”
3️⃣ Redefine success as sustainable performance, not exhaustion

🧠 Mental health isn’t weakness.

It’s capacity.
It’s clarity.
It’s longevity.

Let’s build workplaces where being human doesn’t require permission.

Burnout isn’t a badge of honour , it’s a warning sign.

#mentalhealth #burnout #leadership #culture #wellbeing #futureofwork

Cyber Security Leader Focused on Enabling and Protecting Business Growth (CCISO, CISSP, CISM)

Day 2 of the ISACA Advanced in AI Security Management (AAISM) 

This is a great course for AI Security Leaders AI is transforming business faster than most security teams can keep up. 

That’s why ISACA has launched AAISM, Advanced in AI Security Management, the first credential built specifically for managing AI risk. 

If you already hold a CISM or CISSP, AAISM adds the piece we’ve all been missing: 
🔹 AI governance 
🔹 AI risk management 
🔹 Model security & lifecycle controls 
🔹 Bias, transparency & trust considerations 
🔹 Technical and organisational safeguards tailored for AI 

In short, it bridges the gap between cybersecurity and real-world AI risk. 

As organisations rush to adopt AI, AAISM helps leaders ensure these systems are deployed responsibly, securely, and with the right guardrails in place. 

If managing AI risks and securing AI is part of your roadmap then you should look at AAISM

ISACA Advanced in AI Security Management (AAISM) done.
Just need to sit the exam now  !

ISACA Advanced in AI Security Management (AAISM) 

Look what arrived in the post today Gary Hibberd FCIIS, Lee Scorey

Final AI evaluation tool, which we covered in the ISACA AAISM course is -
NIST ARIA

Most AI testing focuses on accuracy.

But accuracy in a lab isn’t the same as safety, fairness, and reliability in the real world.

That’s where NIST ARIA (Assessing Risks and Impacts of AI) steps in.

ARIA evaluates AI systems across three layers:

1️⃣ Model testing - technical performance
2️⃣ Red-teaming - stress-tests and adversarial probing
3️⃣ Field testing - how an AI system behaves in context, with people, processes, and real world variables

💡 It’s one of the first frameworks that treats AI as a sociotechnical system, not just code.

🔥 When should organisations use ARIA?
✅ Before deploying high-impact AI (e.g., hiring, healthcare, financial decisioning)
✅ When you need confidence that a model is safe, fair, and robust
️️️️️️️️️️ 🔥 For risk assessments aligned with emerging AI regulations
🎯 To identify harms that accuracy tests alone can’t catch

ARIA helps organisations move from “Does it work?” to “Is it safe, trustworthy, and beneficial?”

If you’re building or buying AI systems in 2025 and beyond, ARIA should be part of your toolkit.

Google What-If Tool 

The What-If Tool: Transparency Without the Code 

Explainability shouldn’t require a PhD in data science. 

The What-If Tool, from Google PAIR, gives teams a no-code, visual way to explore a machine-learning model’s behaviour: 

🔹 Inspect individual data points 
🔹 Run “what-if” scenarios by tweaking feature values 
🔹 Compare model performance on different groups 
🔹 Identify fairness gaps 
🔹 Visualise predictions, thresholds, partial dependence and more 

It’s ideal for cross-functional teams, data scientists, analysts, domain experts, product owners. 

Use Cases for the What-If Tool :
✅ Debugging trained ML models 
➡️ Spotting errors, anomalies, and unexpected behaviour 

✅ Fairness analysis 
➡️ Exploring subgroup disparities without complex coding 

✅ Explaining models to stakeholders 
➡️ Great for risk, legal, product, compliance, and exec teams 

✅ Counterfactual analysis 
➡️ “If this feature changed, would the outcome change?” (critical for explainability) 

If you want practical, hands-on visibility into your model’s decision patterns, the What-If Tool is one of the most accessible ways to get there.

AI Fairness 360 (AIF360) 

One of the takeaways from the ISACA AAISM course is AI Fairness 360: Detect, Measure & Mitigate Bias, Bias doesn’t disappear by accident, you have to look for it. 

AI Fairness 360, developed originally by IBM and now open-sourced under LF AI & Data, gives teams the most comprehensive set of fairness metrics and bias-mitigation algorithms available today. 

It works across the full lifecycle: 
✔️ Pre-processing (fix the data) 
✔️ In-processing (adjust the model) 
✔️ Post-processing (correct the outputs) AIF360 helps organisations turn “ethical AI” from a slogan into a measurable, repeatable process. 

🔥 Use Cases for AI Fairness 360 :
✅ Auditing datasets for bias before training 
➡️ Identify skew, imbalance, and group disparities 
✅ Comparing fairness metrics 
➡️ Equal opportunity, demographic parity, disparate impact, and more 
✅ Applying mitigation algorithms 
➡️ Reweighing, adversarial debiasing, reject-option classification 
✅ Producing fairness reports for governance & compliance
 ➡️ Useful for upcoming AI regulations, impact assessments, and procurement reviews 

If fairness is a priority - or part of your regulatory obligations - AI Fairness 360 should be on your radar.

Digital Trust is the Foundation of Modern Business In a world driven by digital interactions, trust isn’t optional, it’s essential. 

Digital Trust is built on five pillars: 
✅ Security - Protect systems and data from threats 
✅ Privacy - Respect and safeguard personal information 
✅ Reliability -  Deliver consistent and dependable performance 
✅ Integrity - Ensure accuracy and prevent tampering 
✅ Transparency - Communicate openly and honestly 

Organizations that strengthen these pillars don’t just reduce risk, they earn confidence, enable innovation, and drive growth. 

How is your organization building Digital Trust? 

 #DigitalTrust #CyberSecurity #Privacy #RiskManagement #Innovation #DataProtection #Leadership

I recently came across the Trust Equation, didn't know trust could be measured. 

Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) ÷ Self-Orientation 

In simple terms: 
* Credibility – Do you know what you’re talking about? 
* Reliability – Do you do what you say you’ll do, consistently? 
* Intimacy – Do people feel safe being honest with you? 
* Self-Orientation – Is it about you, or about them? 

What I find powerful is that trust is often lost not through lack of competence, but through high self-orientation: 
* Talking more than listening 
* Protecting your own agenda 
* Needing to have the final word 

In leadership (and especially in cyber security), trust is the real currency. 

Without it: 
* Risks don’t get raised 
* Bad news gets delayed 
* Decisions get made in silos 

If you want to build trust: 
✔️ Be clear and honest 
✔️ Be consistent 
✔️ Create psychological safety 
✔️ Make it less about you 

Trust isn’t built in big moments, It’s built in the small ones, every day. 

Who has heard of this ? Anyone used it ? 

#Leadership #Trust #CyberSecurity #CISO #PsychologicalSafety #TrustEquation

✨ Can ethics be a formula?

Another new one for me, Paola Saibene’s “Ethics Formula”, a simple, practical way to turn ethical thinking into actionable decisions. 

In a world of fast tech, AI, and constant change, ethics can’t stay philosophical, it needs to guide what we do.

Her approach helps leaders balance transparency, principles, and real-world impact, so we innovate responsibly, build trust, and reduce risk.

Ethics shouldn’t just be a value.

 It should be a repeatable practice.

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