Category 01
SOC & Defensive Security
SOC analysts, incident responders, SIEM engineers, threat hunters, blue team members who defend organizations against cyber threats every day.
Opens Sunday, September 13, 2026 ← All categories
Who should apply
- SOC analysts and engineers monitoring and triaging alerts
- Incident responders leading forensics and containment
- SIEM/SOAR architects building detection pipelines
- Threat hunters proactively finding adversaries
- Blue team leads running detection-as-code
What judges look for
- Meaningful reduction in mean-time-to-detect (MTTD) or mean-time-to-respond (MTTR)
- Novel detection rules or playbooks that caught real threats
- SOC automation that freed analyst time for higher-value work
- Threat hunting discoveries with business impact
- Clear metrics showing security posture improvement
Eligibility
Universal criteria
Experience & leadership
3–5+ years in technology, mid-tier (non-CXO) roles, proven leadership and impact.
Innovation & creativity
Demonstrated problem-solving and creative solutions within your field.
Growth & mentorship
Continuous learning plus developing others through mentorship or training.
Adaptability & resilience
Proven resilience through crises or significant organizational change.
Ethics & responsibility
High ethical standards, diversity & inclusion, community and sustainability work.
Candidates
Nominees in SOC & Defensive Security
Showing 36 of 69 applicants
Abdul rehman tahir
NomineeAbdul Sami
NomineeAbdullah Azzam
⭐ FinalistAdeel Ahmad Kidwai
NomineeAhmed Raza Thebo
NomineeAli Dharani
NomineeAqeel Khan
NomineeArif Hussain
NomineeAsad
NomineeBilal Ahmed
⭐ FinalistBilawal Khan
NomineeBissam Akbar Malik
NomineeDeleted user #2108
NomineeDuaa
Nomineefaiez siddiqui
NomineeFaiz Ul Karim Siddiqui
NomineeHafiz Muhammad Kashif
NomineeHafiz Tabish Imran Bilgrami
🏆 WinnerHaider Ali
NomineeHamid HUssain
NomineeHammad Ahmed
NomineeHamza Alam
NomineeHasan Naqvi
NomineeHasnain Alam
NomineeHazrat Umer
NomineeHina Shahan
NomineeJaudatahmed
NomineeKamran Ali
NomineeKewal Kolhi
NomineeKhet Kumar
NomineeM. Shabbir Anwer Khalidi
🏆 WinnerMajid Ali
NomineeManzar
NomineeMehmood Ahmed Khan
🏆 WinnerMohammad Bin Akhtar
🏆 WinnerMuhammad Abdullah Tariq
NomineeCommon questions
FAQ
I work at an MSSP — am I eligible?
Yes. If you manage SOC operations for clients, you qualify. Describe the scope and scale of the environment you defend.
We use a managed SIEM — can I still apply?
Absolutely. The award is about outcomes and leadership, not whether you built the tool yourself.
Applications open Sunday, September 13, 2026
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