David Boda, Chief Security and Resilience Officer, Nationwide Building Society
As the frequency and sophistication of cyber threats continue to increase, cybersecurity is becoming a top priority for governments, organisations, and individuals alike.
Computing's Security Excellence Awards recognise the very best organisations, individuals and solutions in the industry – the ones that are protecting and enabling every other part of IT.
This year's winners will be announced at a live awards ceremony on Thursday, 2nd May in London.
One of those finalists is Nationwide Building Society, which has reached the shortlist for two categories: Security Project of the Year and Security Team of the Year.
We caught up with David Boda, Chief Security and Resilience Officer at Nationwide Building Society to ask him more about their main achievements in the last 12 months and what makes his company different from other companies.
Previously David has held roles as Group Chief Information Security Officer at Camelot Group (operator of the UK National Lottery) and Head of Cyber Security at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. David is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and has helped author a number of national and international security standards.
Computing: Please provide some background on your company for our readers. What makes you different from other companies?
David Boda: Nationwide is the world's largest building society, with over 17 million customers. Nationwide is owned by its members and focuses on providing banking products and services to its customers. Nationwide has over 18,000 employees, including those working in its network of over 600 branches across the UK.
Nationwide is the UK's third largest mortgage provider and holds almost £1 in every £10 saved in the UK, as well as one in ten of the UK's current accounts. It also supports landlords and those who rely on the private rented sector for their long-term housing needs through its buy-to-let business, The Mortgage Works.
Nationwide's purpose is "Banking - but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society". The Nationwide Board believes that its mutual ownership model enables it to balance its need to retain sufficient profit to remain financially strong, with its commitment to share its success with its customers and members.
What one company achievement in the last 12 months are you most proud of?
DB: Over the last twelve months Nationwide has significantly invested in its Security and Resilience team, both current team members as well as bringing in new talent to the team. In turn that has enabled some great outcomes both for our customers and the wider society which are reflected in the team being shortlisted as finalists for these awards. That investment is ongoing with continued opportunities to join us at nationwide-jobs.co.uk/security-resilience
Why are events like the Security Excellence Awards important to the IT industry?
DB: Events like the Security Excellence Awards allow the industry to highlight just some of the exceptional work that goes on to secure organisations up and down the UK. Collective cyber defence requires vendors, academia, consultancies and end-user organisations to continue to work ever closer together, and celebrating each others' successes are a part of that.
What have been the biggest challenges of 2023 so far and how have you overcome them?
DB: 2023 saw a continuation of the dynamic threat environment. Working hard on cyber and wider operational resilience means that whatever happens we can be increasingly confident of being there for our customers when they need us.
What do you see as the main opportunities for the IT industry in the coming year? How do you plan to capitalise on those opportunities?
DB: Over the coming year Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing represent new opportunities and risks for our industry and we're already working on both. Alongside these, there continues to be a wide range of different hardware and software that we use to operate the business that are both interesting to work with and to secure making it a great place to work if you enjoy exploring and understanding different technologies.
Computing Security Excellence Awards will take place on Thursday, 2nd May in London. Click here to view the shortlist and here to book your table.
