
Andy Garth
Director of Government Affairs, ESET
Andy Garth is Director of Government Affairs at ESET. A former British Ambassador and diplomat with postings/assignments in Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East, South/South East Asia and Far East. Andy works with national and international bodies regarding cyber policy, regulation, cyber diplomacy and threat intelligence.
Jeff Bullwinkel
VP & Deputy General Counsel, Corporate External & Legal Affairs, Microsoft EMEA, Microsoft
Col. Michał Żołnierowicz
Head of Branch, International R&T Cooperation, Department of Innovation, Ministry of National Defence of Poland
Roman Vybranovskyy
Advisor to the Chairman, State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine
Andrzej Cieślak
CEO, Dynacon
Marta Gomez Macias
Cyber Engineer, VirusTotal
Dr. Jamie Collier
Senior Threat Intelligence Advisor, Mandiant
Dr Jamie Collier is a Senior Threat Intelligence Advisor at Mandiant (now part of Google Cloud). He works with organisations in the EMEA region to help them understand their threat landscape and build threat intelligence capabilities. He is also active within academia as an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Before joining Mandiant, he was the Cyber Threat Intelligence Team Lead at Digital Shadows and completed a PhD in Cyber Security at the University of Oxford. Jamie was previously based at MIT as a Cyber Security Fulbright Scholar and has experience working with the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, Oxford Analytica, and PwC India.
Dr. Olesya Tkacheva
Professor at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy, and Strategy (CSDS), Brussels School of Governance
Joanna Świątkowska
COO, ECSO
Royal Hansen
Vice President of Privacy, Safety and Security Engineering, Google
16:00-16:30 / KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
The complexity of the cyber threat landscape makes it essential to examine today’s threats from multiple angles. Join Mandiant Senior Threat Intelligence Advisor, Dr Jamie Collier and VirusTotal Cyber Engineer, Marta Gomez Macias who will explore the most active threats facing the region, ranging from prominent espionage campaigns to the latest cyber crime developments. By combining Mandiant and VirusTotal perspectives, this webinar will provide actionable advice that empowers security practitioners to build more proactive and resilient security postures.
Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Potii
Deputy Head of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine
Prof. Deeph Chana
Managing Director, NATO DIANA
18:00-18:15 / KEYNOTE SPEECH
Convergence of electronic and cyber warfare has become a game-changer in modern armed conflicts. It can enhance both offensive and defensive capabilities, by disrupting enemy networks, gathering intelligence, and on the other hand boosting cybersecurity protocols and mitigating vulnerabilities that could be used by an enemy force. Russia has been using its cyber-electronic capabilities during the war in Ukraine, making the fight all the more difficult. What are the advantages and challenges of integrating electronic and cyber warfare capabilities? How can this technological fusion enhance military operations and situational awareness? What are the potential implications on civilian infrastructure and populations? Is this the future of modern warfare?
17:30-18:00 / FIRESIDE CHAT
Technological superiority through emerging disruptive technologies (EDTs) such as AI, quantum computing or autonomous systems, not only strengthens defence and deterrence capabilities but also enhances geopolitical influence. As major global players like Russia and China prioritize EDT development to bolster their military capabilities, NATO is also focused on maintaining its technological edge through the NATO Innovation Fund and DIANA. How are EDTs transforming cyber and traditional warfare? What are the challenges in effectively integrating EDTs into existing military infrastructure and systems? What can we expect in the years to come in the EDT “arms race”?
Mirosław Maj
Founder and president of the Cybersecurity Foundation, Vice-president, ComCERT SA
Over 20 years of experience in ICT security. Founder and president of the Cybersecurity Foundation, Vice-president of the ComCERT company, a former leader of CERT Polska team. The member of the Digital In 2017-2018 he was the adviser to the Minister of National Defence of Poland on planning cyberdefence capabilities and building organizational structures and establishing international cooperation in the field of cyberdefence. In March 2021 was appointed a member of the Digitalization Council at the Ministry of Digital Affairs.
Initiator of Polish Civic Cyberdefence organization. Co-founder of Open CSIRT Foundation – the stewardship organisation for SIM3 model and co-provider of Trusted Introducer service for CSIRTs, including processing of CSIRT formal certifications. Lecturer of cybersecurity courses on few universities.
European Network Information Security Agency expert and co-author of many ENISA publications including CERT exercises and papers on improvement CSIRT maturity. He organised 10 editions of cyber exercises (Cyber-EXE™) in several countries for most essential sectors (e.g energy, banking, telecommunication). Speaker on many international conferences including the FIRST conferences. He is also the originator and organiser Security Case Study conference, one of the largest cybersecurity event in Poland.
Lieutenant General T R Copinger-Symes CBE
Deputy Commander UK Strategic Command
Tom spent his early career with The Rifles on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and in operational and strategy posts at the Permanent Joint Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence.
For the past 10 years he has focused on how the Army and Defence can make better use of its data and information, whether in supporting traditional warfighting or employed as a weapon in its own right – especially in the context of ‘sub-threshold’ competition. This has included command at brigade (1 ISR Bde) and divisional levels (Force Troops Command – now 6th (UK) Div), as well as, in his last post as Director of Military Digitisation, leading Defence’s Digital Transformation portfolio.
In May 2022 Tom was promoted to Lieutenant General, on appointment as the Deputy Commander of UK Strategic Command.
18:15-19:15 / PANEL DISCUSSION
Protecting cyberspace requires intensified cooperation and coordination between the civilian and defence spheres. That is fundamental for achieving success on the battlefield (as the war in Ukraine has shown), as well as for fostering innovation and technological progress contributing to greater national security. The panel strives to understand how effective cooperation between the defence domain and the private sector (industry, academia, and decision-makers) can be built. It will focus on the identification of priorities, potential gaps, quick wins, and long-term goals. Apart from that participants will be asked to recommend concrete ways how to improve synergy between the two communities.
16:30 –17:15 / PANEL DISCUSSION
Information has always been a key element of war – now, social media are significantly transforming the dynamics of conflicts. Psychological warfare, disinformation and propaganda, are increasingly used by malicious actors such as Russia to support their bigger geopolitical goals. Beyond the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin is also engaging in aggressive influence operations in Africa and Latin America, not only to shape public opinion of the conflict, but also manipulate local communities, put anti-Western governments in power, undermine democracy and human rights. How can we converge the efforts of the multiple actors involved in the fight against disinformation? What protocols and practices should we establish for preventing and managing influence operations?
16:00-16:15 / KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
What does it look like when a sophisticated adversary tries to attack your company? Would you be able to notice? Building an internal Red Team that is able to simulate a wide variety of adversaries can help answer this and many other questions. This talk will go into details on how to build an effective Red Team program, from hiring talent over building out capabilities, all the way to remediating findings surfaced in exercises and . The talk will also focus on how red teams play a decisive role in preparing every organization for attacks on AI systems.
14:30-15:30 / PANEL DISCUSSION
Malicious actors seek to destabilize the Alliance through cyber means – Russia continues to intensify its hybrid attacks against the Allies and partners, and the PRC has declared its ambitions to challenge NATO’s interests, security, and technological edge. NATO is committed to enhancing its deterrence and defence posture in the cyber domain through initiatives like Virtual Cyber Incident Support Capability, the Innovation Fund, and DIANA. How have recent summits improved NATO’s cyber posture? How do the above-mentioned initiatives improve NATO’s capabilities in the cyber sphere? How can NATO members prepare themselves for the changes brought by modern warfare?
Maj. Gen. Karol Molenda
Commander, POL Cyber Command
Major General Karol Molenda is an expert in building and implementing innovative solutions in cyber security, computer incident response, computer forensics and ICT security (date of appointment to the rank of Major General – August 14, 2023). As the Cyber Commander he strongly supports modern scientific and research projects as well as active cyber cooperation
at the international level.
MG Karol Molenda occupied numerous positions in the Military Counterintelligence Service including the Head of IT Security Branch, the Head of Computer Forensic Branch, the Head of Cyber Counterintelligence Branch, the Deputy Director of Cyber Security Bureau, and the Deputy Director of VI Directorate. In 2019 he was assigned as the Director of the National Cyber Security Centre. From 2019 he has served also as the Plenipotentiary of the Minister of National Defence for the creation of Cyber Defence Forces. In January 2022 the National Cyber Security Centre was transformed into the National Cyber Security Centre – Cyber Command (NCSC-CC) with (then) Brig. Gen. Karol Molenda as the NCSC Director – Cyber Commander. On May 12th, 2022 NCSC-CC was finally transformed into Cyber Command. POL Cyber Command – named after Jerzy Witold Różycki – cultivates the heritage of the Cipher Bureau, where great Polish mathematicians and cryptologists worked on breaking the German cipher machine – ENIGMA. The Centre operates 24/7/365 in order to constantly monitor and respond to threats in cyberspace, educate Polish society through informational campaigns presenting the best practices in conducting online activities, as well as to build and develop cryptological tools.
MG Karol Molenda was awarded, inter alia, with the Army Commendation Medal by the United States Department of Defense in 2019 for his commitment and unconventional approach to cyber counterintelligence activities. In 2021, during the second edition of the CYBERSEC CEE REGIONS&CITIES conference he received the European CYBERSEC Award.
MG Karol Molenda is a graduate of the Military University of Technology (master’s degree in Cybernetics and MBA in Cyber Security) and Warsaw Management University. Privately – a passionate horse rider and an avid runner.
PhD Paweł Terpilowski
Editor-in-chief and Vice president, Demagog
Dr. Magnus Hjort
Acting Director General of the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency
Marietta Gieroń
Chairman, the Kościuszko Institute Association
Belén Carrasco Rodríguez
Project Director, Centre for Information Resilience
Givi Gigitashvili
Research Associate, Atlantic Council
Givi Gigitashvili is an open-source analyst and Research Associate at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, where he investigates influence operations, social media manipulation and computational propaganda campaigns in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus.
Izabela Albrycht
Director of the Cybersecurity Center at AGH University of Science and Technology & Co-founder of CYBERSEC
Maj. Gen. (Rt) Jean-Marc Wasielewski
Retired Major General, Signal Corps of the French Army
Major General (retired) Jean-Marc WASIELEWSKI is an Army Signal officer who held different positions in France and abroad. Among others, he was the commanding officer of an EW regiment and the commanding general of the FR Signal brigade. While J6 of the FR Rapid Reaction Corps he deployed to Afghanistan where he was in charge of the FR joint C2 systems. He is a graduate from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy, the War College (Paris) and the NATO Defense College (Rome).
Vice Adm. Dr. Thomas Daum
German Cyber Command
Maj. Gen. Rafael García Hernández
Commander, Joint Cyberspace Command, Spain
He joined the AGA in 1983. Assigned to various positions at AF and Spanish Defence Joint Staff. Abroad in SHAPE – NATO; Defence Attaché in London, Afghanistan or participating in the Operation Unified Protector of Libya. On July 30, he was appointed Commander of the MCCD, and on August 4, 2020 of the MCCE.
Maj. Gen. Karol Dymanowski
Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces
17:30-17:45 / KEYNOTE SPEECH
With increased investments into developing cutting-edge solutions, including disruptive and dual use tech, NATO is clearly entering its new technological era. To maintain its technological edge, the Allies need interoperability. Seamless integration of new solutions across member states and partners has long been a priority for NATO, but it is getting more difficult with the growing complexity of systems, as well as the emergence and convergence of domains. It also requires a whole-of-ecosystem approach – engaging not only NATO, but the defence industry, tech companies, academia and civil society. What conditions have to be met for an effective innovation and smooth digital transformation of NATO? How to structure the cooperation within such a diverse group of stakeholders?
Marietta Gieroń
Holder of commercial power of attorney | Operations Director
While studying at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University, she simultaneously completed the Academy of Capital Companies. She also completed the Data Protection Inspector Course, as she is convinced that the implementation of RODO minimizes the risk of data leakage incidents, which in the time of accelerated technological progress is a sensitive resource more than ever.
Łukasz Gawron
Chairman of the Board #CyberMadeInPoland
Graduate of international relations at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where he also completed his BA studies. He coordinated the European Energy Hub project at the Institute of Public Policy. For many years associated with The Kościuszko Institute, where he was responsible for the organization of several CYBERSEC events. From January 2021 Vice-chairman and from December 2021, Chairman of the Board, of the first Polish Cybersecurity Cluster #CyberMadeinPoland in Poland. He has a PRINCE2 Foundation and Agile PM Foundation project management certificate.
Jarosław Kożuch
Chairman of The Kościuszko Institute
Graduate of the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations at the Jagiellonian University. Coordinator of many international projects in cooperation with expert organizations in Ukraine, observer in Ukrainian presidential elections in 2004 during the Orange Revolution.
Associated with Kościuszko Institute for almost 20 years. Manager with many years of experience, business practitioner. He is interested in using new technologies in business.
Maciej Góra
CYBERSEC Project Manager
Maciej Góra is a Project Coordinator of the Kosciuszko Institute. He studied National Security at the Jagiellonian University, Cybersecurity at the AGH University of Science and Technology (both in Krakow) and International Relations at the Charles University, Prague. His research and professional interests include digital and cyber issues on a micro (reducing digital footprint, personal online safety) and macro scale (geopolitical dimension of cybersecurity, cybersecurity management, social processes related to digitalization, futurology).
Ewelina Kasprzyk
Programme Director | Chief Editor of the European Cybersecurity Journal
She holds MA in American Studies and MSc in International Relations (speciality: Strategic Studies), earned at the Faculty of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University. Her research interests were developed through both of her theses regarding respectively the impact of social media in shaping the political environment and Internet governance in the age of cyber warfare. After hours, she enjoys learning new languages and drawing.