EY has announced the promotion of Richard Watson to the role of Global Cybersecurity Leader, taking over from Kris Lovejoy. He was previously Asia-Pacific Cybersecurity Consulting Leader, a role he still holds alongside the global position, and prior to that he had headed the Oceania cybersecurity practice.

In the new global role, he will lead global development and execution of EY's cybersecurity strategy, capability, methodology, knowledge sharing, and cybersecurity platform.

Watson, who is currently based in Sydney, has over two decades' experience in cyber risk and cybersecurity across the UK, Middle East, and Asia Pacific. His areas of experience include cyber risk assessment, technologies for monitoring and protecting against cyber attack and managing cyber incident response. Before joining EY in 2015, he was Managing Director for cybersecurity and risk management in the Asia Pacific and Middle East operations of BAE Systems Applied Intelligence.

He said of the new appointment: "Cybersecurity is a universal concern. I am excited to lead the global organization in the development of EY cyber capacities to better protect EY clients from cyber-related risks, no matter where they operate, and help build a more trusted and secure working world.”