Month: November 2020
Qualys Blog: White Hat’s Unforgettable Day
The White Hat Committee are delighted to once again welcome Qualys onboard as an official White Hat sponsor for 2021. Although this year has seen many changes to the usual Ball, Qualys has continued to stand by White Hat and Childline in our fight to be there for every child.
Qualys has supported White Hat for over a decade, and since 2013 has donated an incredible £50,000 to Childline, allowing us to answer 12,500 calls from children who desperately need our help. Much has changed since Qualys first began supporting the White Hat Ball; it has grown in size to almost 650 guests, now welcomes a huge numbers of industry leaders each year, has moved to the spectacular Royal Lancaster Hotel and has seen over 10 committee chairs come and go, each leaving their own unique stamp on the event.
We spoke to Anne Lenoir, Corp. Communications & Events Director, at Qualys, to find out what motivates them to continue sponsoring White Hat and Childline.
The White Hat Ball is an unmissable and spectacular industry event and we are proud to have supported, attended and sponsored it for over 10 years. The Ball has developed and changed, never more so than this year, but its message and reason remain the same ‘to have fun and raise money for a vital cause’! We are proud to sponsor this event and all of the incredible, life-changing work, that Childline does. This year has been particularly hard for children across the UK, with many of them trapped at home, lonely and isolated, and here at Qualys we are honoured to be able to do our bit in ensuring these children have a safe place to turn and someone to talk to. The NSPCC and Childline also do fantastic work for child online safety, a cause close to many of our hearts in this industry, and to have this opportunity to lead the sector is supporting this cause is a privilege.
As a team, we have many fond and fun memories of attending the White Hat Ball over the years and although this year will be slightly different, with a virtual White Hat event, we are excited for the industry to come together once again in the spirit of White Hat!
To find out more about Qualys, visit www.qualys.com.
White Hat’s Unforgettable Day
After another successful White Hat Ball (WHB) in January of this year, there was much to celebrate, not only did the Cyber Security Industry leadership make a stance for the support of vulnerable children by raising £195,000 for NSPCC Childline but also demonstrated how our industry can come together to have fun in the process.
Sadly, that celebration was short lived as those same vulnerable children were/are stuck in homes, sometimes with their abusers as COVID took hold of our society.
The White Hat Ball committee, made up of senior leadership across our Cyber Security industry, were acutely aware of the impact from COVID on their own organisations, their teams, and society at large, including the possible difficulties on raising chartable funds for all good causes such as the White Hat Ball. The committee mobilised our efforts towards forward planning, working with our sponsors, NSPCC Childline, and our venue, The Royal Lancaster Hotel. Despite the challenges the hospitality industry was facing, the Lancaster management were incredibly supportive of our situation, and worked with the WHB committee to ease any impact and to explore more options.
Throughout June, July and August, WHB supporters, sponsors, and committee continued with ticket sales and seeking prizes, knowing that the format & size of the 2021 WHB would be different, should the ball be possible. During this time, NSPCC, and WHB committee, like many businesses in the UK and across the global, produced contingency planning approaches, performed cost benefit analysis, and sought to ensure the safety of our guests & employees.
Despite the dedication to find the best option, with meetings running into the evenings, and good progress being made with sincere commitment from guests and our sponsors. On the 7th of October, after consultation with NSPCC leadership, The Royal Lancaster Hotel, the White Hat Ball committee made the decision to hold an alternative online event, accompanied by a fundraising campaign, and sadly not the traditional White Hat Ball, which is usually attended by over 650+ guests.
To maintain our support for vulnerable children in our society especially at this time, the White Hat Ball will be launching our “White Hat Unforgettable day” campaign that will begin in November, run throughout December and January and conclude in a very special virtual celebration evening on the 29th of January 2021.
White Hat’s Unforgettable Day is a campaign that aims to raise £30,000, enough to fund Childline for one full day, the 29th January, when the original ball would have taken place. This ambitious and exciting campaign will bring together the Information Security community, concluding in an evening of celebration and entertainment on 29th January, for what would have been the sixteenth White Hat Ball.
Join the White Hat Committee and industry leaders in supporting this unforgettable day of Childline, by donating what you can here. Additionally, we also want you to help us spread the message to our community at large, encouraging companies and individuals to participate in online events, share the news of the day, and send a robust message to those vulnerable children, that have not been forgotten through fundraising.
Stephen Khan, White Hat Committee Chairperson
