NAB loses its chief security officer

National Australia Bank chief security officer David Fairman has left the bank after two years to take an Asia Pacific-wide role at security vendor Netskope.

Netskope said in a statement that Fairman had joined as its chief security officer for APAC, where he assumed responsibility for security operations across the region.

“He will also assist the rest of the Netskope worldwide team by working with customers to provide guidance on best practices in cloud security and privacy as remote work rises globally, causing rapidly-evolving IT and security requirements,” the company said.

Netskope lauded Fairman’s financial industry experience which, in addition to NAB, has seen him serve roles at Royal Bank of Canada, JPMorgan Chase, and Royal Bank of Scotland.

"My primary goal has always been to make the internet a safe place to transact," Fairman said in a statement. 

"After a long career in security and specialisation in fraud detection technologies, I'm excited to turn my focus to driving collaboration and innovation across the industry to address digital risk threats and improve cyber resiliency and literacy in the global community.

“Netskope offers the platform to do this on both a regional and global scale, by safely and securely enabling organisations on their digital transformation journey and accelerating their move to the cloud."

Netskope's regional account manager Nick McDonald said in a LinkedIn post that Fairman’s move was “a powerful validation” for the vendor.

While at NAB, Fairman oversaw the unification of all security disciplines, including “physical, fraud, cyber and investigations perspective” into a single “integrated security model”.

At the time of his appointment at NAB, he had indicated the bank was the first in Australia to pursue such a strategy around its security functions.

A NAB spokesperson told iTnews that Fairman left the bank in mid-April and that a search for his replacement is underway.

"We thank him for the significant contribution he made to strengthening the security profile of the NAB Group," the spokesperson said. 

"While a search for his replacement is underway, Nick McKenzie is Acting Chief Enterprise Security Officer and continues to lead the enterprise security portfolio which includes cyber, physical security, investigations and operational fraud capabilities."