Candice Tran Dai
About Me
My name is Candice Tran Dai, I am a Cyber & Risk Strategist.
I have been working for many years in the advisory industry.
Prior to establishing my consulting business in 2006 and going into entrepreneurship, I worked for a French risk management firm operating internationally.
In addition to my work in the advisory industry, I am actively involved in academic research relating to cyber issues within two non-profit organizations: Global Foundation for Cyber Studies & Research (Washington D.C.) and Asia Center (Paris).
I am a French national of Belgian/Flemish and Vietnamese origins, my profile is multicultural and multilingual.
I hold a Certificate in Digital Security from the French National Institute for Advanced Studies in Security and Justice. It has been accredited by the French National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI). I also hold a Certificate in Cybersecurity from the DiploFoundation. The DiploFoundation (www.diplomacy.edu) is a non-profit organization based in Malta, with offices in Geneva and Belgrade. In June 2006, Diplo was granted Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
I hold an MA in International Relations with a concentration on the Asia-Pacific region and an MA in Chinese Studies from the Paris National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures. I am also a graduate of the Sorbonne-Nouvelle in Foreign Languages Applied to Business and International Trade.
My convictions
Multidisciplinarity in Cyber Security
I favor a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to cyber security. Cyber risk is inherently interdisciplinary as it stands at the crossroads of various fields such as computer science, data science, economics, law, management, political science, behavioral science.
We cannot apprehend the full dimension of cyber risks from the siloed perspectives of individual stakeholders. It is far more relevant to engage in coordinated efforts. This is true whether at corporate level, national level or international level.
Multistakeholderism in Cyber Security
Although there is still some way to go, I acclaim the fact that today cyberspace governance tends to go beyond the realm of state-actors and to include non-state actors.
At international level, shaping the rules and norms of behavior in cyberspace is now involving stakeholders from governmental organizations, industry, academia.
At corporate level, there is also a strong need for a multi-stakeholder approach to cyber security. Cyber risk has to emerge from IT departments and be brought to the different corporate layers and to the Board room.
Diversity
in Cyber Security
Despite the fact that somehow the word ‘diversity’ tends to become a buzzword, I strongly believe that the cyber security workforce needs diversity: in gender, race, age, but also in work history and life experiences. I believe there is a need to reach to people in varying fields with diverse backgrounds in education and skills who may not necessarily have been initially technology and cybersecurity focused. I am a member of the French Circle for Women in Cyber Security (CEFCYS) since its establishment in 2016. It is striving to bring more girls and women on board in the field of cyber security.
I am not a computer scientist nor a software engineer, I don’t know how to code…and yet I work in cyber security and I collaborate with techies!
As far as I can recall, when I was a child and a teenager, even later on when I was a student, I have never really been into information systems and IT although my brothers were pretty much into everything that had to do with the Web, computers, video-games etc…
However, I have always been keen on using technology and trying to understand how it truly works. I must admit that what has always seemingly driven my taste for technology is certainly my personal interest for science-fiction literature and cinema. But with a special interest for anticipation and dystopia where you would almost always be encountering technology-dominant societies.
My education background in what is called ‘humanities’ has enabled me to apprehend the cyber domain from a different perspective and to recall the human component of cyber. My professional background in risk management has enabled me to nurture the right mindset for tackling cyber risk.
Altogether, I would say that there is no pure coincidence in life!
“Intuition is the art, peculiar to the human mind, of working out the correct answer from data that is, in itself, incomplete or even, perhaps, misleading”
― Isaac Asimov, Forward the Foundation
“It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation’s Edge
“Any technological advance can be dangerous. Fire was dangerous from the start, and so (even more so) was speech – and both are still dangerous to this day – but human beings would not be human without them.”
― Isaac Asimov