18th International Conference SecurIT

Lieutenant General Atanas Zapryanov (Ret.)

Deputy Minister of Defence

Lieutenant General Atanas Zapryanov (Ret.) was born on 16 April 1950 in the village of Dragoynovo, Plovdiv District. In 1965, he graduated from the specialized high school in mechanical engineering in the town of Plovdiv. In 1974, Atanas Zapryanov graduated from Vassil Levski military school of higher education in Veliko Turnovo as diploma engineer, earning a Master’s degree in the specialty Signal Troops. He was distinguished as the best graduate ranking first among the alumni of the year at the military school. In 1982, he earned a Master’s degree in military science and warfare at Budyoni Military Academy of Communications, Saint Petersburg, Russia, from which he graduated, earning a gold medal for his high academic achievements and an excellent–grades diploma. He earned a Master of Science degree in Strategic Management of the Armed Forces at the General-Staff Faculty of the G. S. Rakovski National Defence Academy, from which he graduated in 1995. In his academic and professional career as a military officer of the Bulgarian armed forces, in 2001 Atanas Zapryanov completed Senior Information Manager Course and a Manager in Information Protection Infrastructure Course at the Information Resources Management College to the National Defense University, Washington, USA, where he was nominated as an alumnus of honor in the College’s Hall of Fame for high achievements earned during his military service. Atanas Zapryanov also completed the Senior Course at NATO Defence College in Rome, Italy. In the course of his military career, Lieutenant General Atanas Zapryanov has held different command and staff positions in the Signal troops of the Bulgarian army: platoon commander, company commander, deputy battalion commander, chief of staff and deputy commander of 95th signal regiment of Second army in Plovdiv, department senior assistant to the department head at the Land Forces Command, department head, chief of staff, deputy director and director of Signal Troops Directorate to the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army (until 2002). As a senior military officer, he also held the positions Commandant of G. S. Rakovski National Defence Academy, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Army for resources until 2006, and a military representative of the Chief of General Staff at NATO military committees and the European Union (until 2010). After joining the military reserve, since 2010, he has been a counselor to two political cabinets of the Minister of Defence (until 2013) and since 2015 until July 2016, Deputy Minister of Defence since July 2016 until 30 January 2017. Lieutenant General Atanas Zapryanov (Ret.) has been awarded multiple times for excellent military service and high professional results; he was awarded For Military Merit Order, First Degree.

Nikolay Nenkov

Deputy Chairman, State Agency for National Security

Nikolay Nenkov was appointed as deputy chairman of the State Agency for National Security with a term, lasting until 28.08.2018, according to resolution № 314/09.06.2017 of the Council of Ministers. He was appointed as Deputy Chairman for a 5-year term in compliance with the Decision № 344 of 23th of May 2018 of the Council of Ministers.In 2002 he graduated from the Academy of the Ministry of Interior, specializing Protection of the National Security. He holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". In 2002 he started working at the National Security Service within the Ministry of Interior as a desk officer and in 2008 he was re-appointed to a position at the newly established State Agency for National Security (SANS). He has successfully assumed all hierarchical positions. In 2017 he graduated a course for development of management policy and senior management in the International Law Enforcement Academy /ILEA/ in USA. Until his appointment as deputy chairman of SANS he held the position of director of a directorate in the Agency. Mr. Nenkov has been awarded on numerous occasions for the excellent fulfillment of his professional duties.

Krasimir Simonski

Deputy Chairperson to the State e-Government Agency (SEGA)

Krasimir Simonski is a Computer Equipment Engineer, having graduated from the Technical University of Sofia. He is a Doctor of Sciences with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, his thesis being "VoIP within Computer Networks". In the period 1991 until 2002 he was a Computer and Communications Director with the American University of Blagoevgrad, whereas since 2000 he has been Manager of Regional Cisco Networking Academy, and a trainer in Information and Communication Technologies. Krasimir Simonski worked on several projects related to IT training and development of ICT skills with AUB in Blagoevgrad, United Nations Development Program (UNDP 2006-2008), including an iGovernment project, under which over 65 thousand employees of state institutions received basic computer skills training. In the period 2004-2007, he managed the "Telecentres" project of UNDP and the State Agency for Information Technology and Communications. As many as 120 telecentres have since been established across the country under that project. Since 2007 he has been a Head and a Coordinator of the Bulgarian project teams of the European Commission, among which were those concerning the elaboration of national development programs of broadband Internet access in Europe and GEANT2, GN3 - the largest-scale project under the Seventh Framework Program for Establishing a Research Infrastructure in Europe. From September 2007, until October 2009 he was a Deputy Chairperson to the Information Technology and Communications State Agency, being in charge of the "Information Technology" Department. Krasimir Simonski has also worked as a free-lanced consultant since 2009. He has participated in a number of international projects in the field of information and communication technologies, online technologies, electronic education and dissemination of broadband internet access across the Balkan and the CEE countries. Since April 2012 he has become a PM under a project for "Development of high-speed broadband access in Bulgaria through setting up critical, secure, safe and reliable public ICT Infrastructure" of the Executive Agency "Electronic communication networks and information systems" (EA ECNIS). Krasimir Simonski was CEO of Executive Agency "Electronic communication networks and information systems" (EA ECNIS) since the beginning of 2013 until appointed Deputy Chairperson to the newly established SEGA.

Dr Luca Zampaglione

Head of Security, eu-LISA (European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice)

Dr Luca Zampaglione has experience in serving the Italian National Police for more than 36 years, including a long international experience at the European Law Enforcement Agency EUROPOL and NATO HQ in Brussels, covering various roles in the field of information security, with focus on distributed sensitive/classified IT systems. Luca is currently working as the Head of Security of eu-LISA, the European Agency for the Operational Management of Large Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, being responsible for information security and business continuity of the HQ in Tallinn (Estonia) and of the Data Centres located in Strasbourg (France) and Sankt Johann im Pongau (Austria).

Dr. George Sharkov

Adviser to the Minister of Defense; Director ESI CEE

Dr George Sharkov is an Adviser to the Minister of Defense and served as a National Cyber Security Coordinator for the Bulgarian Government 2014-2017, also Adviser to the Prime Minister in 2017. He was leading the development of the National Cyber Security Strategy "Cyber Resilient Bulgaria 2020", adopted in 2016. He has PhD in Artificial Intelligence (AI), applications in biophysics, thermography and genetics. Since 1994 he was managing software development for advanced financial systems and e-markets. Since 2003 he leads the European Software Institute (Center Eastern Europe) and after 2016 - the Cybersecurity Lab at Sofia Tech Park. Trainer and appraiser for software quality management, cybersecurity and resilience, lecturing at 3 leading universities. Member of ETSI TC CYBER (representing SBS and European Digital SME Alliance), member of EU High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (since June 2018).

Major Angel Genchev

Senior Expert, Defence Institute "Professor Tsvetan Lazarov"

Major Angel Genchev is a Senior Expert at the Defense Institute "Professor Tzvetan Lazarov" in the Information Networks and Systems Department. He has been part of the Institute since 2008 and has been involved in projects and events related to automation, information technology and information security.

Ramsés Gallego

Executive Vice President, Quantum World Association

With an MBA and Law education, Ramsés is a +22 year security professional with deep expertise in the Risk Management and Governance areas. Ramsés is Strategist & Evangelist for Symantec and holds the following professional accreditations: CISM, CGEIT, CISSP, SCPM, CCSK, ITIL and COBIT Foundations. An internationally recognized public speaker, has visited +25 different countries in the past 12 months and has been awarded 'Best Speaker' many times. He is also a Six Sigma Black Belt professional and is proud of being Past International VP for ISACA’s Board of Directors and Immediate Past President of the Barcelona Chapter. He is Executive Vice President of the Quantum World Association, lives in Barcelona, Spain, feels honored of having had the US flag flown on his honor in The Capitol and lives in Barcelona, Spain with his wonderful wife and his two loved kids.

Vladimir Dimitrov

Inspector at Directorate "Countering Organized and Serious Crime", Ministry of Interior

Vladimir Kavalov

President, ISACA – Sofia Chapter

Vladimir Kavalov has 25 years of experience in the IT field, half of them in the financial sector. During the years he has been working as a system administrator, information security expert, head of IT department and IT auditor. Vladimir is strongly interested in IT, especially in development, deployment, auditing and consulting. He has led important projects regarding realization of migration and implementation of ERP systems, MS Active Directory deployment. He has also implemented solutions related to management and monitoring of IT systems, processes and information security. He has been a member of the ISACA Sofia Chapter since 2008, elected as a member of the Board in 2015 and has served as President since October 2016.

Jenny Boneva

Vice President and Chapter Lead of SheLeadsTech, ISACA – Sofia Chapter

Jenny Boneva has more than 14 years of experience in the areas of Information Technologies and Information Security, IT Audit and Compliance, Data Protection and IT Governance. Her career started as IT consultant/ Advisor and Auditor in one of the Big 4 leading firms in the accounting and consulting industry. Later, she focused her professional development on Information Security in the financial sector. She manages worldwide recognized certificates CISA issued by ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association) in the area of audit, control, monitor and assess an organization’s information technology and business systems and CISSP certificate issued by ISC2 (International Information System Security Certification Consortium) focused on Information Security. Additionally, she has certificates related to the areas of Cybersecurity and Computer Forensics. Currently, she is Vice president and chapter lead of of SheLeadsTech, ISACA – Sofia Chapter

Ramona Chervenkova, CGEIT, CRISC

ISACA-Sofia Chapter

Ms. Chervenkova specializes in the restructuring of business processes, organizational restructuring, change management, IT risk and control, as well as in defining IT strategies and improving the management and operations of IT. She also has more than 30 years of experience in IT development and implementation of IT systems and in IT Audit. Ms. Chervenkova has managed complex projects in organizational change, operational improvement, development of IT strategies and projects for the implementation of IT systems for clients. She has extensive experience in project management, organizational planning, planning and management of IT activities, development and implementation of IT systems and the management and control of IT risks. She has completed numerous successful ERP system implementation projects in Bulgaria, Germany, UK, Belgium, The Netherlands, and on the Balkans by having significant experience of complex IT solutions in a number of industries including Public and Banking sector, Manufacturing and Utilities.

Dr. Preslav Nakov

Principal Scientist at the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI)

Dr. Preslav Nakov is a Principal Scientist at the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), HBKU, where he leads the Tanbih project (http://tanbih.qcri.org), developed in collaboration with MIT, which aims to limit the effect of "fake news", propaganda and media bias by making users aware of what they are reading. Dr. Nakov received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley (supported by a Fulbright grant). He is the first recipient of the Bulgarian President's John Atanasoff award, named after the inventor of the first automatic electronic digital computer. He is the Secretary of ACL SIGLEX and ACL SIGSLAV, and a member of the EACL advisory board, and he serves on the editorial boards of the Journals of Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Computer Speech and Language, Natural Language Engineering, AI Communications, and Frontiers in AI. Dr. Nakov's research was featured in over 100 news outlets, including Forbes, Boston Globe, Aljazeera, MIT Technology Review, Science Daily, Popular Science, Fast Company, The Register, WIRED, and Engadget, among others.

Emil Djinovski

Regional Head IT "Emerging Markets" at GfK

Emil Djinovski has graduated "Information technologies" at John Brice College - Tel Aviv, Israel. His career includes positions at several companies, DATECS, Sofia Mel, Rompetrol BG and NIS Petrol EOOD. His professional experience includes several grand projects, such as management and development of E-Learning system, new networks building at Sofia Mel and Rompetrol BG, management and implementation of BPM and CRM projects. He is member of the Bulgarian CIO Club since 2007. To the present Mr. Djinovski is Regional Head IT "Emerging Markets" at GfK.

Daniel Krekov

Director "IT Security" Directorate, DSK Bank

Daniel Krekov has more than 12 years of experience in the field of information technology and information security, having been part of the banking sector since 2007. In 2010 he started managing the IT Security department at First Investment Bank. In 2014 he started managing the IT Security Department at DSK Bank, and afterwards he became the Director of the IT Security Directorate. He has managed various successful projects to integrate end-to-end cybersecurity solutions in the bank. Successfully certifies DSK Bank with the highest level of card data security PCI DSS (service provider level 1). Over the years, he has established himself as a leader creating and implementing innovative approaches to protecting information and IT infrastructure.

Nikola Nyagolov, CGEIT, CISA, PMP

Principal Consultant, ITNL Bulgaria

Mr. Nyagolov is the Principal Consultant at ITNL Bulgaria. He is certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). He has extensive hands-on and leadership experience in the areas of IT strategy, system integration, software development, implementation, cybersecurity, compliance and audit. He has led technology and operations projects in international and local organizations in the telecommunication, energy and utilities, industrial and financial sector. His engagements cover the areas of economics of IT, technology integration and advisory, business and technology architecture, IT organization and structuring, systems’ reviews and cybersecurity.

Vihren Slavchev

CEO, Mnemonica

Vihren Slavchev is the CEO and one of the co-founders of Mnemonica. He has over 15 years of IT and Management experience, gathered in the software development, real estate and the financial sectors. Together with Pavel Iosifov, he founded Mnemonica in 2009. Working with a great team of professionals, Vihren keeps on forming one of the most dynamic and successful Bulgarian IT companies. He graduated from the Technical University of Varna, majoring in "Automation and management systems".

Kiril Georgiev

IT Director, PAC Doverie

Kiril Georgiev joined the team of PAC Doverie in November 2009 as Information Technology Director, such as he was during the period 2004-2006. He had previously worked at the same position in international companies.

Sebastian Banica

Check Point Country Manager Romania & Bulgaria

Experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in Business Process, Negotiation, Business Planning, Intelligence Analysis, and Coaching. Strong business development professional with a Master of Technology (MTech) focused in Robotics Technology/Technician from Universitatea "Politehnica" din București.

Vladislav Venev

GRC Information security expert, Playtech

Vladislav Venev has almost 19 years of experience in the field of information technology and cybersecurity. He has been on various positions including Information Security Manager and Personal Data Protection Officer. Vladislav has extensive knowledge of cybersecurity, information technology and telecommunications. He also has solid experience in the design and implementation of a number of large-scale IT security, telecommunications, video conferencing and telemedicine projects. He is an experienced presenter and lecturer on information security, data protection and information technology topics. Currently he holds the position of GRC Information security expert in a leading international company.

Alexandra Stefanova

Consultant, United Drone Community Association

Alexandra Stefanova has a bachelor degree in History, specializing Modern History, especially the Industrial Revolution and the impact that it has on the society, Master’s degree in Law and now is studying Master Business Administration. She had worked in Bulgarian Maritime Administration, where she helped with the drafting of legislative acts regarding, the technical equipment of ships, the seafarers' competence in the Republic of Bulgaria, etc. She was involved with the organization and coordination of the Agency’s involvement in the work of international organizations and specialized EU structures. Now she is helping UDC with the drafting of strategies and policies for drones and is researching the legal aspect of AI and it’s future implementation in society and business processes.

Goran Angelov

Founder and CEO, IBS Bulgaria (IBS)

Goran Angelov is a founder and CEO of IBS Bulgaria (IBS) one of the leading IT companies in the country with a focus on finance industry, analytics solutions and systems integration. Nowadays IBS is involved in key project for leading banks related to digital transformation, PSD2 regulation, infrastructure modernisation and information assets management. Goran Angelov has an engineer degree in process automation. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of information and communication technologies and has participated in a number of successfully implemented large-scale IT projects for the business and the public sector.

Milán Kuli

Gartner Partner Presenter

Milán Kuli is an IT security consultant with more than 12 years of experience in leading information security audits/assessments preparing and coordinating remediation programs in several industries (financial sector, telco sector, manufacturing etc.). He believes that a risk based holistic approach is the key factor in effective management of the security landscape. He has lead GDPR, BCP/DRP, risk assessment projects and security remediation programs in the region including Bulgaria. Currently he is working as outsourced CISO at several subsidiaries of a leading Hungarian bank.

Petromir Ivanov

Head of CNSys PLC’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions and Services Department

Petromir Ivanov is Head of CNSys PLC’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions and Services Department. Being an IT professional with 20+ years of experience in ICT sector, he is responsible for the entire company’s business, related to ICT services, enterprise infrastructure and information security. He is a part of CNSys’ team since 2003. In 2012 he became a part of the Company’s management. Petromir has gained serious practical experience in the developing, planning, fulfillment and management of complex nationwide and international projects during the last 20 years. Information security team, part of EISS department, specializes and delivers projects in the areas of Security information and event management, Data Security and Incident response with security orchestration and automation.

Lubomir Tilev

Security Sales leader for Bulgaria and Romania, IBM

Lubomir Tilev is a Security Sales leader for Bulgaria and Romania. In his role Lubo is responsible for all client facing activities in both countries, covering IBM's entire Security portfolio of products and services. During his career in IBM, Lubo has held number of management positions in sales, technical and services ecosystem in Bulgaria. A true believer of cooperation and sharing expertise, he advocates the importance of the global and local response to cyber-threats on corporate and country administration level.

Ilian Stoianov

Director Risk Assurance Services, PwC

Ilian leads the Risk Assurance (RAS) Team in Bulgaria. As Head of the RAS Team he is focused on Information Security, IT Audits/Reviews, Risk assessment and analysis of Information Systems, IT project management, Data Privacy and Cybersecurity. He reviews the involvement in IT Audit and Control of overall process of business application delivery and effective implementation of projects in billing, customer care, inventory management applications, IT assurance and advisory assignments. He has extensive international experience, working in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

Petko Petkov

Senior Manager, Cyber Security and Digital Identity, PwC

Mr. Petkov is an IT Specialist with more than 10 years of experience in IT and last 5 years in Architectural and Management role for Identity, Access and Governance projects. Previous experience with implementation in Pharma, Financial, Education, Health Insurance, Public sector etc. Petko has 10 years in Windows system platform management and was responsible in driving through end-to-end process and architectural design of new implementations. He spent last 5 years in Identity and access management area working with Microsoft Identity Manger, Omada, Sailpoint and CyberArk designing, implementing and supporting customers with all ongoing and upcoming projects.

Alexander Halachev

SOC Manager, Caretower

Alexander Halachev is a SOC Manager in the international cybersecurity firm Caretower. Over the past 10 years he has lead the development of the departments responsible for the architecture and implementation of various security solutions, penetration testing, incident response, monitoring and critical system protection. In his career he has taken part in numerous major projects for international corporations where he has been instrumental in the strategic planning, development, management and monitoring of different security technologies.

Ivan Vasilev

Bulgarian Risk Management Association (BRIMA)

Zdravko Kulev

Technology Consultant, SSARM Ltd.

Zdravko Kulev has 20 years of experience in the areas of Information Technologies and Telecommunications. He started his career as support engineer for fixed and mobile networks in Ericsson – leading telecommunications gear provider. He continued as solution manager where his responsibility was creating and developing IT and telecom solutions intended mainly for mobile networks. He has been working with leading regional and global mobile operators such as A1 Bulgaria, Vivacom Bulgaria, Telenor, Vodafone, Deutsche Telecom, British Telecom. Since 2018, Zdravko Kulev is part of the SSARM’ team. There, he specializes and participates in developing and implementing solutions, related to national security, such as video surveillance, automated border control solutions, cryptographic systems for data, and data management and storage systems.

Boris Goncharov

Chief Cyber Security Strategist, Amatas

Boris Goncharov is an information security enthusiast and visionary with over 15 years of operations and information security experience. He is the Chief Cybersecurity Strategist at AMATAS. His work is focused on envisioning the future of security and defining corporate protection strategies and tactics. Prior to his role at AMATAS, Boris was Chair of Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (CSeCoE) at G4S Europe. He is a regular speaker at leading security events, such as InfoSec Europe, Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, WEBIT Festival, IDC Security Roadshow and others. Boris currently maintains top-level industry certifications, including CIPP/E, CISSP, ISSMP, CCISO, CCSP, CEH, TOGAF, CHFI, ITIL, Prince2.

Alexander Tzonev

CTO, BULPROS

Alexander is an experienced executive with background in software engineering and IT services. He has more than 20 years of international experience in the fields of Software Engineering, cross-functional and cross-geo team management and process optimization. Alexander has worked for companies like Johnson Controls Automotive and AxWay in the past and before joining the team has managed the development center in Bulgaria for Cisco Systems for 5 years. He holds a Masters’ degree in Computer Science from Technical University of Sofia and graduated ELSYS computer science specialized high school.

Ivan Doudin

Regional Director, Acronis

Ivan Doudin is a Bulgarian citizen, Regional Director of Acronis for Balkans and Turkey. With more than 28 years of experience, he has a proven record of accomplishment of successful projects and extensive management skills. Mr. Doudin attained his Bachelor’s degree in process control and automation. He began his career at Honeywell in 1991 as a Project Engineer in Sofia. After a variety of international positions and roles of increasing importance, he became the Regional Director for Acronis in 2018. As a Regional Director of Acronis Mr. Doudin is focused on expanding company presence in the Balkans Region and Turkey. He is also directly responsible for the sales activities and revenue of Acronis in the region. Mr. Doudin holds a B.S. in Process Control and Automation Chemical-Technology University of Sofia (Bulgaria).

Pavel Georgiev

Member of the Steering Committee, Bulgarian Association of Certified Ethical Hackers