homepage
Open menu
Contact Sales

SANS Difference Makers Awards

The SANS Difference Makers Awards shine a light on the cybersecurity practitioners who are leading innovative developments in the industry, who’ve made outstanding security achievements, and who are contributing back to the InfoSec community in ways that deserve recognition. See 2022 winners below.
NominationsAward Ceremony Live Stream2022 Award Categories, Nominees & WinnersDifference Makers AwardsFAQPast Winners
DMA Difference Makers Awards 2023

2023 Difference Makers Awards

Planning for 2023 is underway. Check back for more details.

SANS Difference Makers Awards Ceremony

Held Wednesday, December 13th, 2023 at 6:00pm

Located at The Washington Hilton during SANS Cyber Defense Initiative 2023

*Interested in Sponsoring the 2023 DMA's?  Full sponsorship details are here.

DMA_Awards_-_Nominations_Now_Open_-_470x382.jpg

Nominations are now open!

There are thousands of cyber security practitioners out there who are quietly succeeding and making breakthroughs every day in advancing security. It's time to recognize these individuals and teams.  Here are this year's categories:

  • Article or Book of the Year
  • Diversity Champion of the Year
  • Community Champion/Influencer of the Year
  • Innovator of the Year
  • Mentor of the Year
  • Open-Source Tool of the Year
  • Podcast/Livestream/Video Series of the Year
  • Rising Star
  • Team or Practitioner of the Year
  • Team Leader of the Year
  • Lifetime Achievement Award

Deadline to submit:  Friday, September 29 at 5 pm EDT

Submit Nominee

SANS Difference Makers Awards Ceremony Live Stream

Watch the 2022 Difference Makers Awards ceremony, which took place on Wednesday, December 14th at 7:30pm ET. See also the winners listed below on this page. 

2022 Award Categories

We have expanded the awards this year to include top mentors, content creators, and the most influential champions focused on building the next generation. Take a look at the variety of categories, nominees, and winners below.
CategoryDescriptionNomineesWinner - CommunityWinner - Committee
Innovator of the YearContributions have added novel and valuable information to the field
  • Andy Grant
  • Erkhang Zheng
  • Kat Traxler
  • Darren Argyle
Andy GrantDarren Argyle
Mentor of the YearDevotes significant time and energy to developing others' careers
  • Deidra Phyall
  • AJ Yawn
  • Will Lin
  • MK Palmore
  • Eric Belardo
Deidra PhyallAJ Yawn
Rising Star of the YearNewer practitioners to keep an eye on
  • Segun Ebenezer Olaniyan
  • Michaela Barnett
  • Serena Dipenti
  • Dominique West
  • Zinet Kemal
  • Kat Traxler
Segun Ebenezer OlaniyanDominique West
Article or Book of the YearPublished content in book or article form that makes a significant contribution to cybersecurity literature
  • Hacking APIs by Corey Ball
  • The Art of Cyberwarfare by Jon DiMaggio
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to DFIR: Experiences from Beginners and Experts by Andrew Rathbun
  • Oh, no! Hacked Again by Zinet Kemal
The Art of Cyberwarfare by Jon DiMaggioHacking APIs by Corey Ball
Podcast or Livestream Series of the YearPodcast of live-streamed content that makes a significant contribution to the industry
  • Cloud Security, Ashish Rajan
  • Risky Biz
  • Infosec Unplugged, Davin Jackson
  • Cloud Security Reinvented, Andy Ellis
  • Blueprint, John Hubbard

Cloud Security Podcast, Ashish Rajan & Shilpi Bhattacharjee

Cloud Security Reinvented, Andy Ellis

Diversity ChampionDevotes significant time and energy to fostering talent and increasing representation and participation of under-represented minorities
  • Talya C. Parker
  • Lynn Dohmx
  • Michaela Barnett
  • Delisha Hodo
  • Eric Belardo
Tayla C. ParkerDelisha Hodo
Influencer of the YearSocial media presence provides valuable resources and connections for others in the field
  • Dave Kennedy
  • John Hammond
  • Camille Stewart Gloster
  • AJ Yawn
  • Ashish Rajan
Dave KennedyCamille Stewart Gloster
Open-Source Tool Creator of the YearCreated an open-source tool that is of significant value
  • Arctic Wolf Labs
  • Powerhunt
  • LEAPP, Alexis Brignoni
Arctic Wolf Labs, Daniel ThanosLEAPP, Alexis Brignoni
Team or Practitioner of the YearAn individual or team who has done extraordinary work
  • Toni Benson, Associate Director Cyber Defense Education and Training (CDET) at CISA
  • Caroline Wong, Chief Strategy Officer, Cobalt
  • Dragos Threat Intelligence Team
  • LEAPP Open Source Community
  • Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command

Toni Benson, Associate Director Cyber Defense Education and Training (CDET) at CISA

Navy Cyber Operations Team, Christina Hicks
Researcher of the YearSecurity researcher who has contributed significant work to the community
  • Sharon Briznov
  • Eugene Neelou
Sharon BrizinovEugene Neelou
Lifetime Achievement AwardTranscends categories; has made substantial contributions to cybersecurity over many years
  • Lesley Carhart
  • Robert M. Lee
  • Sounil Yu
  • Kim Zetter
  • Andy Ellis
Lesley CarhartSounil Yu

Why are the DMAs special? 

There are thousands of cyber security practitioners out there who are quietly succeeding and making breakthroughs every day in advancing security. It's time to recognize these individuals and teams.

At the SANS Cyber Defense Initiative conference in December 2023, SANS will hold its annual celebration of the most dedicated and innovative people who made a difference in security in 2023. 

This prestigious annual awards program honors individuals and teams in the cyber security community who have made a measurable and significant difference in security. Through their implementation of security processes or technology, each person has raised the bar in enabling secure business operations and reducing risk.

We have expanded the awards to include top mentors, content creators and the most influential champions focused on building the next generation. We've also partnered with on Chris Cochran and Ron Eddings from Hacker Valley Media as they share our passion for supporting the unsung heroes of cybersecurity and the humans at work behind the technology.

The common denominator in each nominee is their willingness and ability to do what SANS calls 'Fight the Good Fight' in advancing the state of practice in cybersecurity.

2023 Advisory Committee Members

Heather_Adkins_370x370.png
Heather Adkins
Heather Adkins is a 21-year Google veteran and founding member of the Google Security Team. As VP, Security Engineering, she has built a global team responsible for maintaining the safety and security of Google’s networks, systems and applications.
Chris_Cochran_370x370_.jpg
Chris Cochran
Chris Cochran is Hacker Valley Media's co-founder/ Chief Creative Officer and the Advisory Chief Information Security Officer/ Chief Evangelist for Huntress Labs. Chris also serves on the Board of Governors for the Podcast Academy. He is a cybersecurity leader turned award-winning content creator and speaker, earning two Anthem Awards and one Webby nomination.
Delisha_Hodo_370x370.png
Delisha Hodo
Delisha comes from an educational non-profit background, spending 5 years supporting K12 students and their families through the college process. Her passion for serving and supporting students inspired her transition into higher education and cybersecurity, where she now leads a team of advisors as the Assistant Director of Advising for SANS Technology Institute.
370x370_Rob-T-Lee.jpg
Rob T. Lee
Rob Lee is the Chief Curriculum Director and Faculty Lead at SANS Institute and runs his own consulting business specializing in information security, incident response, threat hunting, and digital forensics. With more than 20 years of experience in digital forensics, vulnerability and exploit discovery, intrusion detection/prevention, and incident response, he is known as “The Godfather of DFIR”.
Charles_Nwatu_370x370.png
Charles Nwatu
Charles is a transformative technology executive with 15+ years of experience at the intersection of cyber security and risk. He is a Senior Engineering Manager at Netflix, focusing on risk measurement, governance, compliance, and technology assurance.
Becky_Pinkard_370x370.png
Becky Pinkard
2023 Infosec Hall of Fame inductee, recipient of the 2022 Global Cyber Security Leadership Award - Editor's Choice (Global), previously appointed to the '100 Global CISOs for 2020' list and awarded 'CISO of the Year, 2020' by SC Awards Europe, Becky Pinkard is a renowned practitioner and commentator on the information security sector, and has been working in information technology and security since 1996.
Wendy_Whitmore_370x370.png
Wendi Whitmore
Wendi Whitmore serves as senior vice president for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks. She is a globally recognized cybersecurity leader, with two decades of experience building incident response and threat intelligence teams that have helped clients solve some of the world’s largest breaches. Wendi leads Unit 42, a team of elite incident responders and world-renowned threat researchers.
Rob_Wood_370x370.png
Robert Wood
Robert Wood is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He leads enterprise cyber security, compliance, privacy, and counter intelligence functions at CMS and ensures the Agency complies with secure IT requirements while encouraging innovation.
370x370_Sounil-Yu.jpg
Sounil Yu
Sounil Yu is the CISO and Head of Research at JupiterOne. He created the Cyber Defense Matrix and the DIE Triad, which are reshaping approaches to cybersecurity. He's a Board Member of the FAIR Institute; is a visiting fellow at GMU Scalia Law School's National Security Institute; guest lectures at Carnegie Mellon; and advises many startups. Sounil previously served as the CISO-in-Residence at YL Ventures and Chief Security Scientist at Bank of America.

FAQ

  • This prestigious annual awards program, created by John Pescatore and our late founder Alan Paller, honors individuals and teams in the cyber security community who have made a measurable and significant difference in security. You can read more and view lists of previous winners at the links below.

  • Anyone can make a nomination! We want to hear from people all around the industry.

  • Complete all fields on the nomination form. The more detailed and specific your nomination, the better. The nomination should focus on work performed in 2022.

  • No! Nominations are free and open to anyone who wants to share great news about people and projects that deserve to be celebrated by the cybersecurity community.


  • Yes, and no! People and teams can receive multiple nominations, but it won’t add weight to the selection process.

  • Two things: The nominations will be summarized, and we’ll post a new survey form for the public to vote for their choice in each category. At the same time, the SANS Advisory Board, made up of a panel of SANS instructors and industry practitioners, will review the nominations and make their selection. There will be two winners in each category – the People’s Choice winner and the SANS Advisory Board winner.

  • The SANS Advisory Board represents a collective of SANS instructors and industry practitioners.

  • The third week of November.

  • There will be two winners per category – one selected by a popular vote and one selected by a SANS/industry committee.

  • There will be a simple form available online.

  • Winners will be announced and celebrated on the evening of Wednesday, December 14 at the Washington Hilton during SANS CDI.

  • Seating will be limited. Nominees and their guests will be given priority.

  • There is travel support available for invited nominees as needed.