AWS Public Sector Blog
Author: Ben Aung
Ben Aung joined Sage Group as global CISO in 2018, after 16 years in the UK public sector. Sage is the UK’s largest technology company and the world's leading provider of integrated accounting, payroll and payments systems to entrepreneurs and small and medium businesses. Ben has overall responsibility for the security of Sage’s global technology estate and customer-facing products and services for over 2 million customers in 23 countries. This includes market-leading cloud products for Europe, the Americas and AMEA. Ben left public service as deputy government chief security officer, based in the Cabinet Office. Ben was responsible for all aspects of protective security policy and coordination across 48 government departments and over 400,000 civil servants. Ben’s remit included cyber security, personnel security, counterterrorism, counterespionage and investigation of major breaches, including contravention of the Official Secrets Act. While in government Ben worked within UK’s crisis response apparatus (COBR) and was involved in numerous national incidents, including the 2017 WannaCry outbreak. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/benaung/)
How updating Cold War era data classification unblocked government digital transformation
Looking at information security as an enabler for change, not a blocker, was the mind shift that contributed to digital transformation in UK government. The UK modernization of data classification concepts and processes enabled more responsive public services, as well as massive savings (£1.7bn in 2014 alone). From 2012 through 2015, the authors of this blog worked together in the Cabinet Office in the UK to reform a decades-old information security policy. This effort helped unlock widespread cloud adoption in the UK public sector and the advantages that come with it.