MEET THE LECTURERS 2021

Andrej Gorenc is Technical Deployment Leader Adriatic for Renault Nissan Slovenija, d.o.o. a part of Renault Group.
He manages IT, infrastructure, and security for Groups’ local entities and projects. With his vast experience in IT, he promotes the implementations of new, innovative solutions with special regards to security as is access control and people movement within the Adriatic region.

Arpad graduated as an engineer from Szent István University in 1992. He extended his education with various commercial and financial certificates after that . During his career he served as territory manager in food, logistics and electronic industries.
He joined Kaspersky in 2018 and currently he is consulting enterprise customers on their IT Security strategy. His role includes to stay current with latest information security trends, technologies, and develop markets , serve as trusted security advisor for large corporations.
He started in cybersecurity industry with leading IT Security vendor, McAfee and estabilished first Eastern European operation in year 2000. He had been leading the representation office for 18 years . As a result of his achievements the corporation put the ex-Yugoslavian countries under his leadership.

Blaž Gvajc is a software engineer at Danfoss Climate Solutions. He is working on Leanheat® Monitor, which is a SAAS solution for remote monitoring, control and optimization of district heating networks. Besides software development his focus is also on ensuring security in SDLC.

David Petek is an application security engineer at Bitstamp - the original global crypto exchange. He is a part of rapidly expanding Bitstamp security team which is actively looking for new talent. David is also an OSCP certified penetration tester, a member of the board of Slovenian Certified Ethical Hackers (SICEH) foundation and a visiting expert of University in Maribor. He is an active member of Slovenian information security community and an amateur security researcher. He has presented at more than 10 conferences and security events, has held multiple workshops and organised, contributed to and competed in numerous CTF competitions.

Dominique C. Brack is a recognized expert in information security, including identity theft, social media exposure, data breach, cybersecurity, human manipulation, and online reputation management. He is a highly qualified, top-performing professional with outstanding experience and achievements within key IT security, risk and project management roles confirming expertise in delivering innovative, customer-responsive projects and services in highly sensitive environments on an international scale. Dominique is accessible, real, professional, and provides topical, timely and cutting edge information. Dominique’s direct and to-the-point tone of voice can be counted on to capture attention, and – most importantly – inspire and empower action.

Cybersecurity Analyst
Jakob Premrn, CySA+, CCNP, Security+, RHCSA, is a cybersecurity analyst at NIL´s Security Operations Center (SOC). He mostly deals with security incidents. He is an expert for the SIEM, NDR, and EDR tools. He specializes in Microsoft technologies, but he also deals with developing and testing new technologies at SOC.

Jurica Čular graduated at Faculty of electronics and computer science, Zagreb, Croatia as Master of Computer Science. Got an MBA in finance and marketing at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Holds several information security certificates CISA, CISSP, ISO 27001 LA. Worked as an information security consultant for financial institutions and for Deloitte. Currently working as an expert advisor in Information Systems Security Bureau.

Luka Milinković has many years of experience in controlling and managing of IT security risks through the development of new solutions and performing IT audits. Luka has participated in various projects such as development and implementation of crypto algorithms and protocols, authentication methods, GDPR, application of AI & ML in business, digital payment systems, blockchain technology, data protection and implementation of models for the automatic detection of internal/external fraudulent acts. Luka has experience in defining and improving the ITIL processes and IT controls, strategic IT management and IT risk management. Luka is a senior IS auditor at NLB Bank Belgrade and responsible for audits of IT processes, data protection, security and application controls. His passions are cryptography, authentication algorithms, blockchain, security design and Lego.

Luka Pap is an application engineer working in Vertiv as a part of the Central Eastern Europe (CEE) region. He is specialized in the rapidly growing data center and critical infrastructure market where he is involved in design, solutions creation, engineering and consulting.
Luka holds the Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Zagreb and derives his experience from multiple multi-country data center projects from the pre-sales phase up to comissioning and running phase.

Mane Piperevski is security expert with over 10 years of experience and expertise in field of Ethical Hacking/Penetration Testing and ICT Forensics. He works currently as CEO and IT Security Consultant at Piperevski&Associates and he is also contributor to open software security community as OWASP Chapter Leader for Macedonia. Recently published white papers “Hacker Attacks - Undetectable attacks from trojans with reverse communication” and “Hacking Attacks - Security Threats in IPv6 networks”. Holder of numerous security certifications (C|EH, E|CSA, C|HFI, E|CIH, E|CSP .NET, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, C|EI, MCT) and Europe highly ranged Cyber Crime instructor and trainer.

Matteo Cuscusa is an ethical hacker and a social engineer. He’s been passionate about technology since when he was a kid and he founded Cuscusa Web & Security in 2009. He provides companies with offensive security services and simulated real world attack scenarios to help them understand their security posture. He’s the PoC of DC999, a group of thinkers, creators and hackers.

Miri Varbitzky is a seasoned and result driven sales executive with over 19 years of vast experience within the IT industry, mainly focused on cybersecurity. She brings an extensive background within the areas of Direct Sales, Channel Sales & Marketing, Strategic Alliances, Account Management and Business Development working in various regions globally.

Nebojša is mature Information Security practitioner with over 25 years of experience.
He has broad knowledge and expertise of information systems in a variety of IT domains, including Information Security, IT Consulting, Information Systems Design and Development, Application Development and Project Management.
Also, Nebojša held various positions in the companies like Intralot, European Dynamic, Perbit, Ernst&Young, Mercedes-Benz and Ahold Delhaize.
Platinum member level of ISACA, co-founder of Belgrade ISACA chapter and CISA/CISM/GSEC certified.
Nebojša is Airspace engineer and Cardiff Metropolitan University, LSC, MBA graduate.
Lately, he is founder of small startup and he is happy to talk about it.

Nikolaos Benias, born in Athens in 1976, is married with 2 children. He graduated from the Greek military NCO academy in 1997, received additional training as an electrical engineer in SETTIL, got a degree in Computer Science from the Hellenic Open University in 2014 and a MSc in Computer Science and Security from Athens University of Economics and Business in 2016. Since 2010 he is stationed at the Hellenic Ministry of Defence, in Hellenic National Defense General Staff/CyberDefence Directorate. He has been certified as a web penetration tester (eWAPT by LearnSecurity), a CCNA practitioner (CISCO) and a GSEC-GIAC (SANS) holder.
Currently he is a PhD candidate at National Technical University of Athens, researching on IIoT Cyber Security.

Pete Finnigan is one of the most well known experts in database security. Pete Finnigan created the SANS Oracle security step-by-step guide and the CIS Oracle benchmark used by NIST, USA DoD and more is a reference to secure Oracle databases. Pete worked out the mechanisms that Oracle used to protect PL/SQL and showed how they can be easily defeated at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas in 2006. Pete has published multiple books on databases security and speaks and publishes papers regularly. His company also produces the tool PFCLScan used to protect Oracle databases.

A graduate of Biochemistry and freelance writer, Rachel rediscovered her passion for Cyber Security when she stumbled upon an opportunity put together by SEIDEA for aspiring young women to learn the knowhow of Information Security. Since then, she has undergone multiple training programs to cultivate her skills (vulnerability scans, aiding Red Team attacks, researching malware with YARA, some python work) and is presently a Cyber-mentee with Dominique C. Brack, a seasoned InfoSec professional. As she makes purposeful strides towards becoming an OSINT and Social Engineering expert, she hopes her journey will serve as inspiration to other young women looking to make their mark in the cyber world.

Rony’s professional career started in the mid 90’s, after he finished his first University study. He soon became a Desktop Support Manager in one of the largest Slovenian IT companies. Immediately he became responsible for numerous numbers of users, systems and services in the largest Slovenian IT environment – the public sector. Due to his successful management, he was often asked to switch positions and as a result managed various support groups and teams in different environments.
During this period, Rony attended various training courses on every aspect of service support and
delivery, customer support and management itself. He was soon invited to the Pink Elephant premises in the UK and immediately become their certified instructor. Almost at the same time an HDI’s Eastern Europe partner approached to him with the same proposal in their HelpDesk area. What started as a hobby soon became Rony’s greatest professional passion. He has delivered approximately 15 courses per year in various countries in the region (Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro,…). This lasted for some 4 years, until the ITIL hype started to slow down and the recession in Europe begun. Altogether, Rony has delivered around 50 various courses, both from the ITSM/ITIL and HDI portfolios (from ITIL V2 to V3, from Foundation to Management level; all HDI courses). Besides delivering official courses, Rony has also prepared and delivered around 50 custom built ITSM courses – courses especially tailored particularly to suit larger customers and their environments, spoken at several IT events and published public ITSM articles. In 2014, Rony was contracted to ITpreneurs and delivered 5 various HDI courses in KSA and the Sultanate of Oman. He is also a founding member of itSMF Slovenia. Besides training delivery, Rony was involved in various ITSM / ITIL adoption programmes and projects as a consultant or project manager. His areas of expertise are: IT Service Management, Project Management and Consultancy, Visioning, Cultural Assessment, Training, Coaching, Mentoring, Career Plans, Team and Project Management, Customer Service, Partner and Vendor Management. Process implementation, assessment and improvement. Establishment and initiation of Service Improvement Programmes. ITSM Tool Selection Process. Process documentation. Management of Products and Services across their lifecycles. Service Level Agreements, Supplier Contracts, Service Level Management. From 2015, Rony has worked as a Business Solutions Director at Unistar, responsible for ITSM, BA, Customer Centre, Development and Security Departments.

Saša graduated in 2001 at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb. He was employed in the Department of Electronic Systems and Information Processing (ZESOI) as an associate on information security projects. At the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing he managed and actively participated in numerous projects related to planning, testing and assessment of information systems security. Since 2006, he continues his professional career as a senior information security consultant for INFIGO IS. During his professional career, he demonstrated a special interest for security vulnerabilities detection, exploitation and prevention techniques. Within INFIGO IS, Saša is in charge of development and planning of information security technical services, such as penetration tests, forensic analysis, security incident solutions and similar. Saša is a certified information systems auditor (CISA), and also a certified information security specialist (CISSP and CompTIA Security+). Saša has 15 years of experience as an information security expert/consultant.

CISSP, CASP+, CEH, ISO 27k LA, Security+, Network+
- Senior Information Security Officer @ Intrasoft International S.A.
- Cybersecurity Training Consultant @ Diaplous Cyber College
- Former Military Officer (Air Defence) (26 years of service)
Senior Information Security Officer/Consultant and former military officer with more than 25 years of active military service, mainly in operational (current and future operations) planning and execution. Experienced professional in Chief Information Security Officer roles, both in national capacity and at the NATO, where I acted as Domain Site Administrator and Automatic Data Processing Officer. Able to provide holistic solutions, with experience in the operation, design, test, integration, and implementation of ICT systems (concept development, design, planning, functional tests, etc.), and have drafted or reviewed numerous operational or technical plans and directives regarding both military and ICT security projects. Holder of high-profile cybersecurity certifications, like CISSP, CASP+ and CEH, together with Network+ and Security+. Capable of working under time restrictions and in extremely complex situations, managing multiple data and providing nominal results. Strong analytical, quantitative, and organizational skills, including the ability to manage complex and varied workloads. A focused professional, with a proven capability to work in multicultural and diverse professional environments.

Spent more than 15 years in the IT industry gaining invaluable experience in various infrastructure and security departments. After several years in Pharma/Fintech companies he joined Croatian National CERT and its „Services and infrastructure security team“ in 2019 as DevOps team lead, responsible for Software defined Data Center implementation and security.

Deputy Chair of the European Data Protection Board
Ventsislav Karadjov has been Chairman of the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection since April 2014. After two terms as Vice-Chair of the Article 29 Working Party, he was elected unanimously for Deputy Chair of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) in May 2018.
Mr. Karadjov is a graduate of Sofia University’s Faculty of Law and holds a Master’s degree in Law, with specialization in Public Jurisdiction.
He began his career as a legal adviser and programme director at the Transparency International, Bulgarian chapter. He has also held various senior legal and management positions on projects concerning anti-corruption and the creation of functioning democratic institutions for international institutions such as the European Commission, the US Agency for International Development, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the UN Development Programme. Throughout his career Mr Karadjov has worked as advisor to the Minister for Internal Affairs in the field of international public security activities and anti-corruption and Chief Expert Associate to the 41st and 42nd National Assembly on matters related to the control of security services, special surveillance devices and access to data retained by public security bodies.
Until his election as CPDP Chairman, Ventsislav Karadjov was a member of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Mr. Karadjov has been awarded as „Jurist of the Year” 2018.

Chief Cloud Adoption Advisor
With 20+ years industry practice of software engineering, design and technology advisory behind he is ready to contribute to make and adopt cloud services for enterprises. During recent projects he has supported multiple organizations to fully leverage the secure internal and external collaboration and information protection capabilities of their Microsoft 365 subscriptions. His expertise spans across Microsoft 365 productivity solutions, Microsoft's Azure Platform Services and modern web and device application experiences. He is a platform expert, enterprise design thinker, trainer and solution architect in one person.