Our new Director for Information Security, Scotland Symons, has always had a thirst for knowledge. Raised with a “killer library” in the home, she’s a voracious reader with a thirst for travel - specifically to the South Pacific. Ex-Apple and Microsoft, Scotland is also a former punk kid who has been part of information security and hacking culture since the early 90s. A global nomad and a critical thinker with a strong moral compass - we’re thrilled to have her on board. 

Scotland leads Auror’s overall Information Security, encompassing product, operational, and people information security. Her background sees significant experience from Apple and Microsoft where she held senior roles in Information Security. Her path to this role at Auror is, by her own admission, not linear. In fact, it’s a series of events that starts in that killer library - with a computer that no one in her family knew how to use. 

Scotland was raised by artists. Her parents were involved in film and television - definitely not tech. With the time and insatiable curiosity of a 11 year old, Scotland started using the library to help guide how she could turn the computer into something interesting - something entertaining. She turned it on, figured out how to connect it to the phone, and kept on figuring it out as she went. While trying to further her knowledge of computers, she received filtered information from a friend’s brother who was involved in the hacking community in the early 90s. This was before hacking was even a ‘thing’ and when people considered it ‘criminal nonsense’. 

Scotland worked in a number of engineering roles in Vegas and then Washington, getting closer to security as this space was carved out in the early aughts - including when Microsoft launched the Bill Gates security initiative (Trustworthy Computing). Reflecting, Scotland is acutely aware that she’s been part of security since its inception, “I have more experience than what you can actually teach someone - because I lived through it all.” 

So where to from here and why Auror? It’s threefold. The drive for change, the people and culture at Auror, and the challenge. 

Scotland is driven by the need to make a difference, and believes the way forward is collaborative - finding common ground and politely challenging the status quo, and doing so with respect. She’s also incredibly hopeful of the change she might be able to effect at Auror, particularly in wider relationships with law enforcement, aiding in global influence. 

But it’s really the people and attitude at Auror that drove this decision for Scotland, up-ending her life in Seattle to make the move to New Zealand. Scotland saw Aurors wearing their hearts on their sleeve while trying to make a difference. This clear alignment made it a no-brainer for Scotland - in the team at Auror she saw decency, altruism, and a collaborative environment. There is a culture at Auror that embraces critical thinking, asking “why”, and a commitment to preventing any further harm on communities. She says, “that’s what got me. It’s not lip service here, and I needed to be part of this story. 

The final challenge: being part of a growth story, and the trajectory that Auror is on. When compared to likes of her former employers, technology behemoths Apple and Microsoft, Auror has a journey ahead of it. With her experience, Scotland could have watched, guided, or consulted to Auror from an external point of view - but she wants to be involved, with all the challenges of a growing company. As she says, the complexity of IT and security problems isn’t trivial, particularly for a company like Auror. On a larger scale, Scotland’s view is that if we [Auror] do this well, there is so much other good to be had. She says, “Auror, and my role at Auror, has the opportunity to protect people. If we can stop people getting typecast, removing racial and gender stereotypes, communities around the world use this software and take on that challenge themselves, then we have done some good.”