Corien Vermaak started her career as a technology law specialist within the telecommunication space and soon fell in love with data privacy and the legal structures governing cybercrime. In her career, Corien specialised in cybercrime legislation and data privacy while representing large multinationals on these matters.

She holds a master’s degree in law specialising in cybercrime and data privacy. She has been involved in the writing of legislation in this regard as well as consulting to Africa Union and Interpol on issues relating to cybercrimes and privacy.

Corien is a Qualified Digital Forensic Auditor, Lead ISO 27001 auditor and C|CISO. Corien has been a CISO Advisor for the Cisco Security Centre of Excellence in the Asia Pacific, Japan and China region where she has led market leadership projects.

She has used her lab and investigative experience to instruct and develop training focused on educating children on the dangers in the digital world. She has been running a pro-bono campaign educating over 52,000 children on cyberbullying and digital privacy. In 2022, Corien released her book “Hacker Mom – the practical guide to keeping your kids safe online”.

Corien is one of the global heads of Cisco Woman in Cybersecurity and has been both an executive and non-executive board member for Woman in ICT.

She is currently Cisco’s director of cybersecurity for Australia & New Zealand. Due to her involvement in the ANZ Cybersecurity industry, Corien has joined the Boards of:

• Australia Cyber Collaboration Centre
• Future Communication Industry Advisory Board
• Cyber Hub at Macquarie University. (Corien is a Research Fellow at Macquarie University)