Meet the lecturers

Alex Holden is the founder and CISO of Hold Security, LLC. Under his leadership, Hold Security played a pivotal role in information security and threat intelligence, becoming one of the most recognizable names in its field. Mr. Holden researches minds and techniques of cyber criminals and helps our society to build better defenses against cyber-attacks.

Andrej Rakar, dr. elektrotehniških znanosti, je na Institutu Jožef Stefan deloval na področju nadzornih sistemov tehničnih procesov in uvajanju informacijskih tehnologij v proizvodnjo. Na področju informacijske varnosti deluje že od leta 2005, praktične izkušnje pa si je pridobil na najzahtevnejših projektih za finančne ustanove, zavarovalnice, telekomunikacijske operaterje, zdravstvo in podjetja iz gospodarstva doma in v tujini. Kot vodja informacijske varnosti (CISO) v podjetju Petrol d.d. je zadolžen za upravljanje z informacijsko varnostjo, uresničevanje strategije kibernetske varnosti ter nadzor izvajanja ukrepov varovanja informacij. Poleg tega predava na različnih konferencah in drugih prireditvah s tematiko informacijske varnosti.

Bob van der Staak is a penetration tester and red teamer at the Dutch Railways. Sharing knowledge is his passion, and with his background in software development and technical informatics, he implements code to assist with his daily assessments.
From web penetration testing to malware development and cloud technologies, he is eager to learn and share his expertise.

Owner and Consultant at PowerBML. 

Born on the 29th of Feb 72 in Karlsruhe, Germany.
After attending school, which ended with a high school diploma, I joined the German Air Force.
There I made my masters in Electrical Engineering, after that worked in Air Traffic Controlling, from there became an IT officer which led me to the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force Command (AWACS) in SHAPE.
I was a Communication officer in the HQ, with the responsibility for frequency management, Air and Ground communication, the Communication Budget of the HQ and related tasks.
Once finished, I left the military and I joined SHAPE as a NATO Civilian, working in the Intelligence Division (J2) as a CIS Security Supervisor.
Main job functions are inspections, policy development, incident management, security awareness, technical and threat advice and now Intel Support to the Cyber domain, which is a capability we want to build up for the future. I am also supporting CIS Security responsibilities for our operation on Afghanistan, which right now focuses on Train, Advice and Assist of the AFG security forces.

Jan Harrie is a Product Security Engineer at HashiCorp, where he focuses on ensuring the security of their products and services. With over 8 years of experience in the security industry, Jan has worked as a penetration tester, consultant, and researcher. He has a deep understanding of software vulnerabilities and a passion for developing secure solutions. Jan is a frequent speaker at security conferences across Europe, sharing his knowledge and insights with the community.

Jernej Porenta works at 3fs as a Staff Infrastructure Engineer, assisting customers in transitioning their IT workloads to the cloud and adopting Dev(Sec)Ops methodologies.

As a Cloud Security & DevSecOps consultant, he enables diverse development teams to deliver improved results while protecting their business-critical assets on-prem and in Cloud environments. Passionate about red teaming, threat intelligence, offensive security, and talking to an audience about his stories.
For a glimpse at his career so far, you can reach out to his LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinperezrodriguez/

Matteo Cuscusa is a hacker with over 25 years of experience. He currently serves as the Managing Director and Offensive Tactics Advisor at Cuscusa Web & Security SRL.
Matteo's work focuses on offensive security tactics, ethical hacking, and social engineering, with a particular interest in AI-enhanced exploitation techniques. His approach combines technical knowledge with an understanding of human behavior in digital environments, aiming to expose vulnerabilities in both technological systems and human processes. Matteo is a strong advocate for responsible data handling and the development of ethical digital ecosystems.

Matthias Luft is an information security enthusiast and practitioner. After 20 years in Security, he is still excited about a broad range of topics (from hypervisors via containers/clouds to IT security management/leadership) and has had the opportunity to present on them around the globe. He spent the last few years working on container and cloud security engineering and research. In his free time, he enjoys the outdoors, martial arts, and spending time with dogs.

Miroslav Matijević je vodja upravljanja IT varnosti in avtorizacij v Petrol d.d., Ljubljana. S svojim strokovnim timom ščiti informacijski sistem največje slovenske energetske družbe pred kibernetskimi napadi. Njegova odgovornost vključuje nenehen nadzor varnostnih dogodkov in upravljanje dostopov do informacijskih sistemov podjetja. Poleg tega aktivno optimizira in uvaja mehanizme za preprečevanje kibernetskih vdorov. Miroslav Matijević je velik zagovornik stalnega ozaveščanja uporabnikov, saj verjame, da so lahko najšibkejši ali najmočnejši člen v verigi informacijske varnosti.

Ranjeet Ambarte is a well-known Ethical Hacker and Cyber Security Specialist having 10 + years of experience by serving different kind of services to International Clients, Government Agencies, Defence Services, Top Educational Institutions, Corporate Companies and so on. He has a Bachelor’s of Engineering degree in Information Technology and he is Certified Ethical Hacker as well. He assists people on online fraud and social media attacks.

Riccardo Cervelli has an ITIS specialization in Industrial Informatics, one in Electronics and Telecommunications and a degree in Computer Engineering.
Cisco instructor, EUCIP certified, sector expert in the Tuscany Region and for the Regional School Office, teaches at high school, in post-diploma courses (including ITS and IFTS).
He has been working as a freelancer since the nineties, also as a CTP and CTU in computer investigations.
He has held over 100 training and refresher courses for staff in schools, universities and companies.
He has written several articles in specialized magazines and computer books.
He holds the position of Coordinator of the Department of IT Disciplines, tutor for orientation and Instrumental Function for "Support for Teaching in relation to the territory and Professional Technical Centre" in the school where he is a permanent teacher.

Sozon Leventopoulos is a seasoned cybersecurity professional and researcher with over 30 years of experience, including a distinguished military career. He holds a master’s degree in Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection and is pursuing a PhD in Cybersecurity and Cyberdefense at the Athens University of Economics and Business, where he also serves as a researcher and educator. Leveraging his expertise as a Cyber Warfare expert at ZONOS SYSTEMS CONSULTING, he specializes in designing innovative cybersecurity solutions for critical infrastructures, supported by high-profile certifications such as CISSP, C|CISO, and CASP+.

An IT consultant with more than 20 years of industry experience, Tudor is a Certified Ethical Hacker, and a Microsoft Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP. His commitment to staying at the forefront of technology trends enables him to provide valuable guidance and support to organizations seeking to navigate the ever-changing IT landscape.
His passion for sharing knowledge and engaging with the community has made him a regular speaker at local and regional community events. His speaking engagements provide valuable insights and guidance to IT industry professionals and enthusiasts.

As a Security Team Lead at Crayon and a Microsoft Security MVP, with over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, Uros is committed to empowering customers with top-notch security solutions and practices. His mission extends to educating and inspiring the next wave of cybersecurity and cloud security professionals, contributing actively to the Microsoft community. Uros thrives on learning new technologies, tackling intricate challenges, and fostering collaboration among industry experts to exchange knowledge and experiences.
Recognized as a Microsoft Security MVP in Cloud Security and SIEM & XDR categories, Uros is devoted to sharing his expertise within the Microsoft Tech community.