Dr. Philip CAO (aka #DrPC), EDBA, MSCS, ZTX-I, CCISO, CISM, CMSC, CCSP, CCSK, CASP, GICSP, PCSPI is a Strategist, Advisor, Contributor, Educator and Motivator. He’s also a Global Cyber | Zero Trust Advisor & Educator, and Founder & Chief Trust Officer at ZTX. He has 25 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
- Top 10 Cybersecurity Voices in ASEAN (2026 Edition) by New In Asia
Dr. CAO is actively participating in global ICT/Cybersecurity associations such as FIDO Alliance, (ISC)², IEEE, ISACA, IAPP, ISA, IASA, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)… and constantly driving cybersecurity activities across Southeast Asia countries and APAC region in the 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 Chapter; Co-founder & Advisor, (ISC)² Ho Chi Minh City Chapter; Co-founder and Motivator, CISO Vietnam Community; Board Advisor of CyberKid Vietnam… He’s also a keynote speaker at global CSA Zero Trust Summit 2022, TEDxHUS and other top industry conferences; as well as Creator & Host at Ask Me Anything: CYBER.
Dr. CAO received an Executive Doctor of Business Admistration (EDBA) from Sabi University and graduated from EC-Council University with a degree of Master of Science in Cyber Security (MSCS): Executive Leadership in Information Assurance, and held Executive Leadership certificate from Oxford University, 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 | |
|---|---|
| Community | |
| Contributor • Dr. Philip 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 • Dr. Philip 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 | |
|---|---|
| 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 • Dr. Philip 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 • Dr. Philip 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 • Dr. Philip 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 • Dr. Philip 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 Dr. Philip 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 • Dr. Philip 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 • Dr. Philip Cao co-founded ISACA HCMC Chapter, Formation Committee in August 2015. |
August 2015 – Present |
| SEC1® | |
| Founder • SEC1® is founded by Dr. Philip 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 Dr. Philip Cao (philipcao.com) in May 2012. He is a rockfan/rocker with a very deep passion of more than 30-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 | |
|---|---|
| Sabi University | |
| • Executive Doctor of Business Admistration (EDBA) | 2023 |
| 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 | |
|---|---|
| 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 | |
|---|---|
| “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
English