Sandy Assaf Head of IT Risk & Compliance at Crown Resorts Assaf started with Crown as a trainee IT operations officer, progressed to a senior IT operations officer
S
and then IT operations coordinator. andy Assaf is Head of IT Risk and
“Soon after I became a systems analyst within the IT
Compliance at Crown Resorts. She has
gaming systems team. It was then that I took a risk
come a long way from her first job: sales
and, with some guidance and mentoring from my now
assistant in a jeweller’s shop, but it was
general manager, I leapt into a position as assistant
that experience that launched her into a
manager IT audit in the newly formed IT governance
cybersecurity career.
team,” she recalls.
IT was her second career choice at school after
“Now, with 15 years in the industry and Crown, I am
photography and media, but she failed to get
in a job I would have never imagined myself in, and
accepted for the digital media and photography
loving it.”
course she wanted to take. She then enrolled for a computer science degree, but did not stay the course.
Assaf acknowledges it was luck that got her in the
“After the first few months I knew this wasn’t for me
door at Crown “with minimal experience and diplomas
and the learning style at university was not my style,”
in IT and E-business,” and attributes her impressive
she says.
career progression to “Having great mentors, developing my skills internally, and Crown providing
There followed numerous unsuccessful applications
me with training and industry courses I required to be
for IT jobs, including one at Crown Resorts. “It was
successful in all the positions I have held.”
the same response from all companies; that I did not have industry experience and other candidates had
MULTIPLE CERTIFICATIONS GAINED
more experience than me.”
Over her years at Crown Assaf has gained ISO/IEC 27001:2013 ISMS Lead Auditor and PCI DSS Internal
PEOPLE SKILLS SCORE HER A ROLE
Security Assessor certifications and completed a
However, a few months later Crown came back to her.
Diploma in Leadership and Management.
“I was curious as to why now, and their response was
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I had customer service experience and people skills
She says many people are hesitant about taking the
that I could bring to the position and learn the more
leap into a new career path, but with the right support
technical skills on the job.”
most people will be successful.
W O M E N I N S E C U R I T Y M A G A Z I N E
N O V E M B E R • D E C E M B E R 2022