Karen Stephens

Australia

Karen Stephens is the co-founder and CEO of BCyber, an Australian cybersecurity company based in Mascot, NSW, which she co-founded with Graham Chee. Before moving into SME cybersecurity risk management, Karen spent more than 25 years in financial services, experience that now informs how BCyber works with financial services SMEs to protect and grow their businesses by demystifying technical cybersecurity and helping them identify and address governance and risk gaps. The company delivers its services through the GRACE framework, covering Governance, Resilience, Assurance, Compliance and Education, mapped to standards including Essential Eight, APRA CPS 234, SOCI and the Privacy Act.

Karen was named the inaugural Female Cyber Leader of the Year at the 2023 CyberSecurity Connect Awards in Canberra, and was a finalist for Cyber Security Professional of the Year in the Professional and Financial Services category at the Australian Cyber Awards in 2024 and 2025. She is a columnist with Women in Security Magazine and a regular presenter at financial services conferences and forums, where she translates cybersecurity risk management into practical actions.

Karen argues that cyber risk is a business risk, not just a technical issue, and that cyber education should be an ongoing foundation of risk mitigation programs rather than a one-off set and forget exercise. She positions cybersecurity as a strategic investment rather than an expense.