
Philip Hung Cao (aka TekFarmer Dharmakāya #tekfarmer), MSCS, ZTX-I, CCISO, CISM, CCSP, CCSK, CASP, GICSP, PCNSE is a Strategist, Advisor, Contributor, Educator and Motivator. He’s also a Cyber & Zero Trust Evangelist. He has 21 years’ experience in IT/Cybersecurity industry in various sectors & positions.
- One of the very first few people on the globe that were certified by Forrester as Zero Trust Strategist (ZTX-I): to-date, the first Vietnamese on the globe, in August 2019
- The 1st Vietnamese featured on EC-Council Elite Members’ Wall for C|CISO, as an inspiration to others in the industry and community, in August 2019
- The 5th in ASEAN and 1st person in Vietnam to achieve Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) from (ISC)² in May 2016
- The 1st person in Vietnam to achieve Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) from Cloud Security Alliance in April 2014
Philip is actively participating in global ICT/Cybersecurity associations such as (ISC)², IEEE, ISACA, IAPP, ISA, IASA, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)… and constantly driving cybersecurity activities across Southeast Asia countries in recent years. He’s also participating in Vietnam ICT/Cybersecurity associations such as: Member of Vietnam Information Security Association (VNISA) since 2008; Board of Advisors (2011) & Member Board of Judges (2015, 2016, 2017) for ASEAN CIO/CSO Awards by IDG; Co-founder & Advisor, Cloud Security Alliance, Vietnam Community (#CSAVietnam); Co-founder & Advisor, (ISC)² Ho Chi Minh City Chapter; Co-founder & Vice Chairman, ISACA HCMC Chapter Formation Committee; Co-founder & Motivator of CISO Vietnam Community; Board Advisor of CyberKid Vietnam… He’s also a keynote speaker at TEDxHUS and other top industry conferences, as well as Creator & Host at Ask Me Anything: CYBER.
Philip graduated from EC-Council University with a degree of Master of Science in Cyber Security (MSCS): Executive Leadership in Information Assurance, and held an Advanced Computer Security Certificate from Stanford University. He can be reached anytime at https://philipcao.com or https://linkedin.com/in/philipcao.
Contributions and Dedications
Timeframe | |
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Community | |
Contributor • Philip Hung Cao constantly contributes his time, knowledge and efforts to Community. – You can see all of his contributions listed here: https://philipcao.com/contribution-community/ | October 2013 – Present |
University | |
Contributor, Educator and Motivator • Philip Hung Cao constantly contributes his time, knowledge and efforts to University. – You can see all of his contributions listed here: https://philipcao.com/contribution-university/ | October 2013 – Present |
Key Projects and Highlights
Timeframe | |
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CISO Vietnam Community | |
Co-founder & Motivator • CISO Vietnam Community is a community which shares the vision and mission to build the next-generation Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in Vietnam. – Official group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cisovietnam | January 2022 – Present |
Ask Me Anything: CYBER | |
Creator & Host • Ask Me Anything: CYBER is a real-world experience show created and hosted by Philip Hung Cao (aka @TekFarmer) to promote Cybersecurity in Vietnam. – Official page on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/amacyber – Official page on Facebook: https://facebook.com/askmeanything.cyber – Official TV channel on YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/TekFarmerTV | November 2021 – Present |
(ISC)² Ho Chi Minh City Chapter | |
Co-founder & Advisor • Philip Hung Cao founded (ISC)² HCMC Chartering Chapter in October 2021, with the other co-founders: Robert Trong Tran (President) & Tran Ngoc Minh (Vice President). In June 2022, it becomes official chapter with the name (ISC)² Ho Chi Minh City Chapter. – Official page on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/isc2hcmchapter – Official page on Facebook: https://facebook.com/isc2hcmchapter | October 2021 – Present |
TEDxHUS | |
Motivational Speaker • Philip Hung Cao was on the stage of TEDxHUS on October 30, 2021 to deliver a speech about the Role and Value of Cybersecurity in The Next Normal. – Original post: https://philipcao.com/2021/10/31/my-speech-at-tedxhus-role-and-value-of-cybersecurity-in-the-next-normal/ | October 30, 2021 |
CyberKid Vietnam | |
Board Advisor • Philip Hung Cao became a Member of Advisory Board for CyberKid Vietnam in December 2020. – Official website: https://cyberkid.vn/doi-ngu-cua-chung-toi/ | December 2020 – Present |
#CISOClubVN | |
Co-founder • Philip Hung Cao co-founded CISO Club Vietnam (#CISOClubVN) in December 2016, with the mission to build the next-generation Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in Vietnam. | December 2016 – Present |
#PHC//Audio | |
Founder • #PHC//Audio is founded by Philip Hung Cao (philipcao.com) in May 2016. This is dedicated to his passion of so-called “low-end” Audio. – Official website: https://phc-audio.com/ | May 2016 – Present |
Cloud Security Alliance, Vietnam (#CSAVietnam) | |
Key-founder & Advisor • Philip Hung Cao founded Cloud Security Alliance, Vietnam (#CSAVietnam) in September 2015, with the other co-founders: Son Ho & Khoi Ngo. • Cloud Security Alliance, Vietnam (#CSAVietnam) is an Open & Developing Community under Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), with mission to: – Promote the adoption and application of cloud technologies and cloud security technologies innovations in Vietnam. – Create a special task force to help organisations adopt CSA best practices for the security assurance of Cloud Computing to secure their cloud computing projects and initiatives. – Localize and facilitate the adoption of CSA Global research papers and guidelines to Vietnam market. – Organise activities to help the local security community to keep abreast with the latest Cloud Security technology. – Awareness and promotion of the Cloud Security education and certification, including CSA CCSK. – Official website: https://csavietnam.org/ | September 2015 – Present |
ISACA HCMC Chapter, Formation Committee | |
Co-founder & Vice Chairman • Philip Hung Cao co-founded ISACA HCMC Chapter, Formation Committee in August 2015. | August 2015 – Present |
SEC1® | |
Founder • SEC1® is founded by Philip Hung Cao (philipcao.com) in December 2013. This is dedicated to his passion of CyberSecurity. | December 2013 – Present |
RockWorld.vn | |
Founder • RockWorld.vn is founded by Philip HungCao (philipcao.com) in May 2012. He is a rockfan/rocker with a very deep passion of more than 25-years for Rock n’ Roll. He is well-known with Rock Community in Vietnam with his nickname, KurtOfDeath (K.O.D), since his first role as Moderator for the first online Vietnamese Rock Community: RockCafe.vze • Philip started to build website that contributed to Rock since 1998 with Magic Lyrics on Yahoo Geocities, then he changed to http://www.nghetructuyen.org in 2001. It was one of the first online music sharing & listening website in Vietnam at that time. At peak, it reached #80,000 on Alexa Rating with thousands of online users. Unfortunately, http://www.nghetructuyen.org closed in 2004 due to personal reason. He decided to go back with his newest project for Rock, RockWorld.vn, in 2012. – Official website: https://rockworld.vn/ | May 2012 – Present |
Education
Timeframe | |
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University of Oxford, Saïd Business School | |
• Oxford Executive Leadership Programme (Grade: 97.3/100) | Apr 2022 – Jun 2022 |
EC-Council University | |
• Master of Science in Cyber Security (MSCS): Executive Leadership in Information Assurance | 2019 |
Stanford University | |
• 2019 – Cyber Security and Executive Strategy • 2016 – Stanford Advanced Computer Security Certificate (SACS) | 2016 – 2019 |
Courses
Timeframe | |
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Microsoft Virtual Academy | |
• Security for the Chief Security Officer (CSO) | |
Cybrary | |
• Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) | |
Ingram Micro Asia | |
• Palo Alto Networks: Firewall Installation, Configuration and Management (PAN-EDU-201) • Motorola Solutions: Design and Deploy WLAN Solutions (AAL2301) • Arbor Networks: Pravail NSI Sales & Technical Module • Cisco Systems: Collaboration Partner SE Boot Camp • Cisco Systems: UCS Advanced Technical Training • Cisco Systems: VXI Implementation • Hitachi NAS Platform: Installation & Maintenance (TCI2035) • Hitachi NAS Platform: Administration & Operations (TCI2102) • Palo Alto Networks: CNSE Boot Camp • Cisco Systems: UCS & Nexus Integration • Cisco Systems: Unified Data Center Accelerated Workshop • Cisco Systems: Cisco ASA CX and PRSM Technical Training • Cisco Systems: Cisco Unified Computing System for Implementation Professionals v5.0 (UCS-IP) | |
Avnet Technology Solutions (Vietnam) | |
• Motorola DPM Training (EDUADC401) • IBM Power Systems & System Storage Technical Symposium 2011 | |
Independent Coursework | |
• Stanford University: Computer Science 101 (CS101) • SNIA Storage Network Foundations (S10-101) |
Honors and Awards
Timeframe | |
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“1st Prize” of IBM developerWorks Contest in Vietnam | 03 | 2011 |
“2nd Prize” and “The Best Performance Prize” from FPT Distribution Music Contest in Vietnam | 04 | 2016 |
Groups and Associations




















