Mike Hawthorne, OBE

Mike Hawthorne has over 20 years’ experience working with nuclear submarines and is a former nuclear submarine Captain. For the last 20 years he has worked in Cyber Security and Information Technology, including a secondment to GCHQ where he led the formation of the UK’s Cyber Reserves.

He is adept at translating the technical nuances of cyber security into meaningful business actions to: optimise public/private partnership approaches to cyber security; improve workforce cyber security through culture awareness and training; promote intelligence-led cyber security; manage the insider threat; and identify options to improve organisations’ cyber resilience.

In the last few years, Mike has managed a CBEST assessment for a major insurance company post an FCA sanction; a CSC CIS Top 20 Controls review for the UK’s leading processor of safeguarding data; completed the first cyber security assessment for a leading worldwide NYSE listed shipping company; led the cyber resilience response for a major UK food supplier post a significant ransomware attack; and assessed the implementation of appropriate technical and organisational measures, training serials and GDPR compliance activities for numerous pension funds, and start-ups in the Space and FinTech sectors.

He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, and of the Chartered Management Institute. He is a “Younger Brother” of Trinity House, and was awarded the OBE for services to Cyber Security in 2016.