Podcast on Cybersecurity awareness
Cybersecurity today extends far beyond systems and firewalls — it begins with people.
In the premiere episode of the BAFT Leaders’ Insights Podcast, Dr. Esther Loo, Chief Digital & Transformation Officer of Evocom and Adjunct Professor at UNITAR, joins an esteemed panel of leaders to explore how empowering employees is key to building cyber resilience in digital-first organizations.
Titled “The Human Side of Cyber: Why Your Employees Are Your First Line of Defense,” the discussion highlights the importance of shared responsibility, awareness, and trust in safeguarding organizations from within.
“Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT function , it’s a human issue,” shared Dr. Esther. “At Evocom, we embed cybersecurity and digital ethics into our transformation efforts, ensuring that every team member becomes part of our first line of defense.”
💡 Featured Panelists:
🎤 Moderator:
Dr. Fong Tuan, Senior Executive Vice President, Group Human Capital, Maybank
- Stephanie Liew, Chief Information Security Officer (APMEA), British American Tobacco
- Dr. Esther Loo, Chief Digital & Transformation Officer, Evocom & Adjunct Professor, UNITAR
Organised by Build A Future Team (BAFT), the session reinforces Evocom’s ESG priorities under the Social and Governance pillars , promoting responsible technology adoption, cultivating digital confidence, and nurturing future-ready leaders.
This initiative also aligns with NadiKita by Evo, Evocom’s pulse-driven promise to Malaysia , where every hand counts, and every heart matters. Through NadiKita, the Group continues to drive positive impact across communities by promoting awareness, integrity, and human growth in every aspect of its ESG journey.
📺 Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/sYo1Rg9xuAE
Podcast published on: 10 October 2025, 12:00 PM (Malaysia Time)
Building Cybersecurity Awareness From the Ground Up
Cybersecurity awareness is often treated as a compliance checkbox, but the BAFT Leaders’ Insights discussion made the case for something broader: a workplace culture where every employee, not just the IT team, understands their role in protecting the organisation. Phishing emails, weak passwords, and careless data handling are still among the most common ways breaches happen, which means frontline staff are frequently an organisation’s first and most effective line of defense.
For Evocom, embedding cybersecurity awareness into everyday operations connects to the same digital transformation work Dr. Esther Loo has championed elsewhere, including her role moderating discussions on AI and digital talent. Treating security as a shared responsibility, rather than a purely technical function, reflects a broader shift in how organisations across Malaysia are approaching digital risk as their operations become more connected and data-driven.
As BAFT continues to convene leaders across banking, technology, and industry to discuss workforce readiness, sessions like this one point to a practical takeaway for any organisation: cybersecurity awareness works best when it is built into everyday habits and conversations, not treated as a once-a-year training module.
For Evocom, the episode also reinforces a message the company carries into its own operations: technology adoption and people development go hand in hand. Whether the topic is AI, electric mobility, or cybersecurity, the common thread across Evocom’s recent initiatives is a belief that lasting change depends on equipping employees with the awareness and confidence to use new tools responsibly, rather than treating digital transformation as something that happens only at the leadership or IT level. That approach is what the BAFT Leaders’ Insights panel captured well: cybersecurity is ultimately a people problem before it is a technology one. It is a lesson worth repeating often. Building cybersecurity awareness across every level of the organisation remains one of Evocom’s ongoing priorities.
