Darrin Nowakowski Email & Phone Number

Toronto, On, Ca

Toronto, Ontario, Ca

Cyber Security Leader for an Iconic Canadian News Service. • Established a Governance Framework, Security Strategy and 3 year-roadmap. • Developed Security KPIs and reported on progress to Executive Leadership and at Board Meetings.• Continually stay current by liaising with external agencies and the vendor community and updating new enterprise information security and IT risk management programs, policies and technologies to address latest threats and vulnerabilities. • Measurably Reduced employee rate of susceptibility to phishing • Applied a vulnerability management program reducing risk. • Fostered a culture of security awareness.• Enhancing SOC/SIEM/SOAR capabilities through automation, reducing mean time to detect and remediate security issues.• Led the architecture for a secure DevOps process. Also the CISO for Sophi.io website automation and predictive pay-walling using ML and AI to streamline decisions and drive subscriptions. The Globe and Mail owned this remarkable AI company until August 2023 and I was fortunate enough to be the CISO for both. Providing and managing all aspects of Cyber Security for AI based automation and predictive paywall decisioning for enterprise publishers.The Globe and Mail owned this remarkable AI company until August 2023 and I was fortunate enough to be the CISO for both. Providing and managing all aspects of Cyber Security for AI based automation and predictive paywall decisioning for enterprise publishers.

Toronto, On, Ca

Supply Chain Security Prime, Province of Ontario --Supply Ontario. Providing for cyber security across the broader public sector – including government ministries, provincial agencies, hospitals, school boards, colleges and universities and social service organizations by addressing the challenges in Ontario’s supply chain system, including barriers for small businesses to innovate and gain access to public sector procurements; overall value, quality and impact; customer service experiences; and inefficiencies and duplication. ▪ Created a risk management framework for platforms enabling multi-billions of dollars in procurement, ERP and analytics for the Province of Ontario including Health Care, Law Enforcement, Education and the Broader Public Sector. ▪ Architected a zero-trust security model, significantly reducing the attack surface and improving the organization's overall security posture while working collaboratively with all departments to develop requirements.Managed third parties and interfaced with central Provincial Government departments and vendors to build security controls. Threat Risk Assessments (TRAs), Threat Models, Data Protection, and remote workforce IT and Created the security criteria for an ERP and analytics system. Provided cyber security trusted advisor services for management.

Toronto, Ontario, Ca

Building multi-line cyber security for risk management and resilience including operations, IAM, DLP, Architecture, Incident Response Teams while mentoring staff and ongoing C-Suite advisory at a high paced and innovative FinTech. Working closely with Privacy, Fraud and Investigations teams to secure assets and grow the business.Led vision and strategy to develop a risk management process aligning with business objectives and regulatory requirements (OSFI). Led penetration testing and remediation efforts. Developed and mentored a top-tier security team, ensuring robust succession planning and continuous professional development.• Established Threat Hunting as a proactive capability.• Navigated the organization through a complex SOC 2 audit• Established a data breach response plan that minimized downtime • Communicated Security Risks to Executive Leadership by briefing senior executives on current and potential security risks, providing strategic insights for informed decision-making.• Developed and reduced new cyber security KPIs and metrics • Designed and implemented a secure cloud architecture ensuring data confidentiality and integrity while meeting compliance requirements.

Montreal, Quebec, Ca

Building and mentoring high quality teams while developing a talent pipeline through collaboration with Universities and institutes.Leading the successful delivery of cloud transitions and digital transformations including technology buying and evaluation process, vendor management, negotiating and collaborating with executives, legal and operations teams.Re-engineered the SOC/SIEM/SOAR with over 100 global clients enhancing automation and reducing cost with a measured increase in customer satisfaction.Built new cyber services and external partnerships for increased revenue.Led TRAs for major public and private sector clients.Reduced alert fatigue through automation.Created a threat hunting and forensics capability for large scale investigations in public cloud services.Built cloud based forensics and threat hunting capability.

Montreal, Quebec, Ca

With deep cloud experience (AWS, Azure and GCP), operations and investigations expertise Darrin built and directed evolving capabilities for a Global Managed Security Services Provider including DFIR, eDiscovery, Cyber Investigations, Threat Surface Reduction, Threat Hunting, Cyber Intelligence, Managed XDR, SOAR, Data Security and SOC automation. Major clients include large scale financial sector and public sector including threat detection, cloud SIEM and anti-fraud systems. Darrin has also developed additional facilities for clients including Secure Cloud, Security Architecture and technology integration with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

As the main client facing consultant Darrin has helped many customers see the full benefits of IT through security. Project and Program build expertise and solid knowledge of integrating Security and Privacy controls into Software and Service Development processes. Deep expertise in cloud, risk, policy and governance, Operations, Investigations, Mergers and Acquisitions, frameworks (ISO 27001/2, CIS, NIST), Sec OPS, security vendor selection and management as well as building and leading teams. Chief Security Architect (Cloud Services) IBM Cloud Services, Toronto, ON 2018 – 2018Chief Security Architect (Vital Events Program) Government of the Province of Ontario 2017 – 2018Security Architect, Canadian Tire Bank, Toronto, ON 2014 – 2017Strategic Advisor (Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, FSRAO) 2011 – 2014Star Circle Security incorporated in 1999. As a Cyber Security services company, Star Circle has helped clients in both Public and Private Sectors to achieve their goals while reducing risks. Located in Toronto Canada, Star Circle Security has worked with clients throughout North America. As the founder and president and currently CISO, Mr. Nowakowski demonstrates leadership through exceptional service and quality client relationships.

Toronto, Ontario, Ca

Strong focus on Canadian Tire Financial Services including Security Architecture, Big Data, New project integration and development for Financial Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Threat Intelligence, automation and robots for product distribution, private public and hybrid cloud, IoT, retail systems, mobile, Identity and Access, Data Visualization, PCI, e commerce, Firewalls and Network Security. Enabling the Secure Digital Transformation of Canadian Tire Bank and Retail Enterprise including PCI Complaint Payment Channels, Cloud deployment and Analytics.

Ontario, Ca

Risk Management, Policy Development, Audit Lead.

Toronto, Ontario, Ca

Security Architecture and Assessment services for Card Products (Visa, Debit).Key deliverables included Threat Risk Assessments and audits for the Credit and Debit lines of business. Designed the Enterprise Vulnerability Management Program, Role Based Access Control rules, remote desktop security, firewall policies and Intrusion Detection Systems.

Toronto, On, Ca

Lead the design and vendor integration effort for 17 large-scale Payment Card Industry projects including Harris Bank (Chicago) web based payroll processing for large businesses, MasterCard transaction processing facilities (Non-Stop Computing environments), New Automated Bank Machine technologies as well as the first Chip Cards introduced in Canada. Collaborating with stakeholders to raise awareness of risk management, cyber security threats and preventative actions for BMO.

Honours B.A., History

Computer Science