INTERNATIONAL INFOSEC & DATA STORAGE CONFERENCE

Krasimir Karakachanov

Deputy Prime Minister for Public Order and Security, Minister of Defence

Krasimir Karakachanov was appointed Deputy Prime Minister for Public Order and Security and Minister of Defence on 4 May 2017 by the 44th National Assembly. Mr. Karakachanov was elected Member of Parliament in the 38th, 40th, 43rd, and 44th National Assemblies. In the 43rd Parliament, he was also Vice-President of the National Assembly. Mr Karakachanov earned his Master’s Degree in History at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in 1990, specializing in Modern Bulgarian History, Political History of the Balkan States, National Liberation Movement in Macedonia and Thrace, Political Movements in Bulgaria, and afterwards completed a three-month training programme in Switzerland. He earned his PhD in International Law and International Relations in 2014. He is member of the Macedonian Scientific Institute in Sofia. Mr Karakachanov has contributed articles to historical journals and numerous publications to Bulgarian periodicals on the national liberation struggles of the Bulgarians in Macedonia and the contemporary relations between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia. He is author of the book "ВМРО – 110 години борба" (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization: 110 Years of Struggle). He worked as Director of the Macedonia weekly newspaper published in Sofia. He completed a cycle of training at the Schools of Political Studies in Moscow, Russia and Strasbourg, France in 1998. Mr Karakachanov is Chairman of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Bulgarian National Movement.

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. 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. Nenkov has been awarded on numerous occasions for the excellent fulfillment of his professional duties.

Rossen Jeliazkov

Chairperson, State e-Government Agency

Rossen Jeliazkov managed and took part in the processes related to elaborating a number of conceptual and strategic documents and programs in the areas of e-Government, local government and local administration, as well as public-private partnerships. He was a representative of Bulgaria to the annual meetings of Open Government Partnership Initiative (2011, 2015). He provided coordination to the Bulgarian contribution to initiatives related to European policies for the implementation of the European Program on Global Monitoring of Environment and Security. He took part in the strategic planning and elaboration of policies in the field of the government administration and electronic governance. Rossen Jeliazkov was a Secretary to Sofia Municipality from 2003 to July 2009. In the period of 2011-2013, he was a Chairperson to the Board of the Institute of Public Administration and a representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, the Netherlands. From 2009 to 2013 he was a Secretary General to the Council of Ministers and in the period of 2014-2016 he was an Adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Administration and Electronic Government issues. Rossen Jeliazkov has been appointed Chairperson to the State e-Government Agency (SEGA) by Ordinance of the Council of Ministers dated September 30th, 2016.

Fernando Silva

Data Protection Officer (DPO), European Agency for the Operational Management of large-scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA)

Fernando Silva is Data Protection Officer at eu-LISA (European Agency for the Operational Management of large-scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice). He graduated as Computer Science and Electronics Engineer, started worк in the Data Protection Field since end 1995 at the National Data Protection Authority in Portugal spent the last 5 years at EU level as privacy technical advisor and DPO. Certified DPO by EIPA and Certified GIAC Systems and Network Auditor (GSNA) by SANS. Deep knowledge on the Legal Framework for the Protection of the Information Environment, on the requirements Imposed by the GDPR Regulation. Depth knowledge of privacy principles, GDPR (Regulation 2016/679) and Data Protection Impact Assessments. Regular speaker at various seminars notably about data protection, audits and IT Security fields.

Rossen Naydenov

Officer in Network and Information Security, European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA)

Rossen Naydenov is Officer in Network and Information Security at the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA). He is focused on the information security topic in the financial sector. Several areas of work are cloud for financial institutions, mobile payments and the use of Blockchain technology. He has over 10 years of experience in information security.

Tsanko Tsolov

Member of the Commission For Personal Data Protection

Tsanko Tsolov was chosen for Member of the Commission for Personal Data Protection with decision of the 42d National Assembly since April 15, 2014. He is Member of the Joint supervisory body of Europol and to the Coordination group for oversight of the European System for automated identification of fingerprints (EURODAC). Since 2007 Tsanko Tsolov has been Head of the Registry and Archives department of the Commission for Personal Data Protection, where he participates in the formation of the policies for the registration of personal data administrators and where he leads the creation and perusal of the CPDP’s automated systems and databases. Tsanko Tsolov is a graduate of the Georgi Dimitrov Higher National Military Artillery School, majoring in Automated Systems for Air Defense Control, Radiotechnics and Radio Navigation, and a graduate of the G.S. Rakovski Military Academy, majoring in National Security and Defense, and Automated Control of Troops. His professional career began in the Ministry of Defense’s air force where he maintained the specialised information networks and the automated information processing systems. Between 1990 and 1995 he was a teaching fellow at the Military Research Institute of the General Staff of the Bulgarian army, where he participated in the creation of an automated information system for the executives of the Bulgarian army and the Ministry of Defense.

Jenny Boneva

Vice President and Chairwoman of Membership Committee, ISACA – Sofia Chapter

Jenny Boneva has more than 12 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 Chairwoman of Membership Committee of 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.

Nikola Nyagolov

Principal Consultant, ITNL Bulgaria

Mr. Nyagolov is Principal Consultant, ITNL Bulgaria. He is certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified in 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, databases and application systems development, implementation, 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 assignments cover the areas of economics of IT, technology integration and advisory, business and technology architecture, IT organization and structuring, systems’ reviews and cybersecurity.

Zdravko Stoychev, CISM CRISC

CISO, Societe Generale Expressban

Zdravko Stoychev is an Information Security Governance, Risk and Compliance Professional with more than 10 years of experience in the Information Security field and in addition with more than 15 years of diverse IT background like computer aided design, software development, system administration and project management. Zdravko is a member of the ISACA since year 2007 and has been awarded with Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) designations of the association.

Svetoslav Hristov

Chairman of BD and Product Manager "Information Security Services", Evolink AD

Svetoslav Hristov is one of the founders of Evolink AD which was established in 2004. Since that time he has been involved in a wide area of responsibilities related to the company's management and operations. His main area of expertise is in the implementation and development of new telecommunication and IT services. Some of the major projects in which Svetoslav Hristov was involved are Evolink.Cloud, Evolink Video CDN and Evolink Data Center Sofia 2. He is also a driving force for the newest segment if the Evolink portfolio – Managed information security services. Svetoslav Hristov began his career in the telecommunication sector in 1998 as part of the team of one of the first Internet service providers in the country – Naturella Agency. He later headed the company's Internet department. He has a Master's degree in Finance at the University of National and World Economy and a specialization in Business Informatics at the Sofia University.

Dimiter Kehayov

Director "IT and virtual bank", BACB

Tsanko Bonev

Director Directorate "Infrastructure Security and Communications", DSK Bank

Tsanko Bonev studied Information Technologies at Technical University of Sofia. He has a Master Degree in Security of Information and holds certificates in computer science including: Cisco CCNP Security, Cisco CCSP, Mile2 Certified Penetration Testing Specialist CPTS. After completing his studies Tsanko gained experience in information security field working for First Investment and MKB Unionbank Banks for more than 10 years. This year he joined DSK Bank team.

Ivelin Pavlov

Sales Operations & Business Development. Company Founder and Managing partner since 2010, AKAT Technologies

Dr. George Sharkov

Director, ESI CEE (European Software Institute - Center Eastern Europe)

Dr. George Sharkov is born in 1961 in Bulgaria. Graduated Mathematics and Computer Science at Sofia University, obtained PhD in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence), specialization in applied informatics, research in biophysics, Infrared thermography and genetics (Belgium), enterprise information systems architectures. Since 1994 he is leading international software teams and projects for banking and finances, online trading and auctions, e-business, internet exchanges and B2B markets, innovative e-trading solutions. At present – Regional Manager for Eastern Europe of European Software Institute (Bilbao, Spain – www.esi.es ) and Managing Director of ESI Center Bulgaria/Eastern Europe (www.esicenter.bg), covering more than 12 countries in the region. Instructor in SPI (Software Process Improvement), software engineering quality and management, implementation of CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration, SEI), accredited ITMark appraiser (covers information security, business maturity and quality of processes). Leader of research network in Cryptography and Information Security, specialized in Cyber Security, Resilience and Cyber Defense models. Expert at EC CEN Workshop in e-skills and e-competences. Lectures Quality Models and Process Improvement at Sofia University, leading a program for modernization of Software Engineering Management university profiles. Founder and Chairman of BASSCOM (Bulgarian Association of Software Companies) for 2001-2007, initiator and promoter of the regional ICT branding and competitiveness initiative (SEE-IT).Founder of the ICT Cluster Bulgaria. Member of SEI USA, Program committee member of several international software engineering conferences, jury member of national and international IT contests, innovative applications and ideas (Grand juror of the UN World Summit Award 2011, www.wsis-award.org ).

Vesselin Arnaudov

Director of the Advanced Development Center, VMware

As a director of the Advanced Development Center, Vesselin Arnaudov is currently responsible for leading the incubation and research activities for the VMware R&D Site in Bulgaria, as well as collaboration with academic and start-up communities. He has spent the past ten years with the company, and prior to that has been involved in the areas of cryptography, security, and distributed systems design. He holds a degree in Computer Science from Brown University and enjoys cooking, traveling, his family, and generally geeking out.

Mihail Pavlov

Business Development Manager for SEE, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Bulgaria

Grzegorz Ligier

IBM Spectrum Storage CEE Sales Leader, IBM

Grzegorz Ligier has held sales and management positions at IBM and APC and has been involved in IT for 25 years. For the last 10 years has been managing sales teams involved in number of infrastructure projects. Currently, leading storage software sales in CEE, he evangelizing infrastructure transformation from silo hardware approach, to flexible software defined and hybrid architecture. His electrical engineering background and experience with IT and non IT infrastructure management, enriched with strategic studies in London and Warwick business schools, provides unique perspective combination.

Lubos Klokner

Systems Engineer for Central and Eastern Europe, Systems Engineer for Central and Eastern EuropeSystems Engineer for Central and Eastern Europe, F5 Networks

Lubos Klokner is working in F5 Networks as Systems Engineer for Central and Eastern Europe. Previously, he has been working as a team leader for a team of network security specialists for the leading system integrator in Slovakia. In the long run, he is interested and working in the computer security area. Recently, it has focused its attention and applied its expertise primarily on the security and availability of application and services in enterprise environments, ISPs, data centers and cloud

Vesela Kabatliyska

Head of Labour Law Team

Dinova Rusev & Partners Law Office is a law company offering specialized legal services to entities and individuals in many areas of civil, administrative and court law. The law office has a highly specialized team of experts in labour law, personal data protection and immigration issues. The office serves some of the largest employers in Bulgaria. In recognition of the high level of expertise of the team, in 2014 the company has been invited and became the Bulgarian member of Employment Law Alliance. Vesela Kabatliyska is the head of the Labour Law team of the company. She has extensive experience in the field of labour law and the protection of personal data with focus on different ways to encourage the staff and in particular options for purchasing of shares (share option plans) in IT industry. Vesela is member of the Committee for European Law Alliance Membership and a recognized expert in the field.

Ilian Stoianov

Senior Manger Risk Assurance Services, PwC

Stefan Stoilov

IS & T Manager, DHL Express

Jan Muenther

Senior IT Security Manager, HERE Germany

Jan Muenther is Senior IT Security Manager of HERE Germany since March 2015 to the present. Before that he was self employed Independent IT Security Consultant since March 2011 until the beginning of 2015. Since 2003 until 2011 he held the position Chief Technical Officer, Security, in the company n.runs AG Oberursel, Germany, where he was responsible for: specializing in high profile penetration testing for Enterprise Level Customers (T-Mobile, SAP, Microsoft, Roche, Daimler Chrysler, PwC); Software security audits - participated in the Final Security Reviews for the Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Operating Systems; Introduction of Software Security Lifecycles at various Enterprise Level Customers; Performed security audit of the Android platform in April 2008. During this period he was accountable for project staffing decisions, technical decision maker for new hires, responsible for technical strategies in the security group, responsible for technical and personal development of a 10 person security testing team, technical Contact for the Microsoft SDL Pro Network.  Before that, since 2002 until 2003 he was Senior Security Consultant at @stake GmbH Hamburg / Boston, MA. He was leader of the Center of Excellence in Computer Forensics. His work includes penetration testing for Fortune 500 companies, application security auditing, infrastructure security testing and design of the Intrusion Detection System for the USA’s largest Internet Service Provider. He was part of the team of Defcom GmbH Berlin, as a Security Consultant (2001-2002), where he was responsible for Application Security Testing, Infrastructure Penetration Testing and participated in world wide Penetration Test of Deutsche Bank. His professional career includes System Administrator/Security Officer (1999-2001) at Radio Hundert,6 Medien GmbH Berlin. There he was responsible for implementation of the corporate Firewall and Intrusion Detection Systems. His career includes System Administrator at Committee for the Codification of a Federal Environment Law Berlin and System Administrator at Institute of Prof. Dr. Michael Kloepfer, Berln (1994-1998).

Eduard Bodor

Data Center BDM Central Europe, APC by Schneider Electric

In the last 12 years Eduard Bodor has worked as Product Manager for electrical power products solutions for different companies. From 2007 he joined APC by Schneider Electric team as System Engineer. Now at APC by Schneider Electric he is focused on Infrastructure systems for medium and large Data Centers and technical consultancy for all APC and Schneider Electric products, with regional coverage. He is certified as "Accredited Tier Specialist" by Uptime Institute from 2012. He has graduated Transilvania University Brasov, Faculty of Road Vehicles and Bucharest University, Faculty of Psychology.

Chavdar Nikolov

Маnaging Director, ACT Sofia

Eng. Chavdar Nikolov is the Маnaging Director of ACT Sofia. He has been part of the ACT team as a partner and director since 1992, and in 2005 he became the partner and managing director of ACT Sofia. He graduated university with an engineer degree in 1983, and since 1987 he is a research associate II deg. in the Central Institute of Computing Technology and a leader of a software projects team.

Yavor Mihov

IBM SW Business Development Manager, NDB Ltd

Yavor Mihov (NDB Ltd) is responsible for the enablement and the development of the IBM channel network in Bulgaria with emphasis to the Security solutions. He has 8 years’ international experience both in the distribution channels of the main IT vendors and with the strategic customers and partners.

Yavor Papazov

Manager of the Technical Team of the CyResLab (Cyber Resillience Laboratory), ESI CEE

Yavor Papazov is an information security researcher and the technical manager of the CyResLab (Cyber Resillience Laboratory) of ESI CEE. He’s been working in information security for 6 years and has extensive previous experience as a Web and iOS software developer, as well as in the domain of scientific computing. He teaches and moderates the content for an information security course at the faculty of mathematics and informatics (FMI) of the Sofia University for the fourth year and is a lecturer for the ESI CEE professional courses, such as "Top 10 Web Threats" and "Advanced Web Threats".

Ioannis Vordos

Information Security Professional, Cyber Security Solutions

Ioannis Vordos is an Information Security Professional with more than 10 years of experience in the field. He started his career as a Greek Navy’s Officer. During the last 3 years of his Navy career he was the head of Greek Navy’s Cyber Defence team. Currently, as a member of one of largest ICT integrators of Southern East Europe, he is responsible for the Cyber Security Solutions marketing with emphasis in GDPR consulting and OT security solutions. He holds worldwide recognized certificates GCFA (GIAC Certified Forensics Analyst), GPEN (GIAC Certified Penetration Tester) and GSEC (GIAC Security Essentials). His educational background includes MEng in Electrical and Computer Engineering from NTUA, Athens, Greece and MSc in Computer Science from NPS, Monterey, CA, USA.

Georgi Georgiev

Personal Systems Pre-Sales Specialist and Technical Consultant, НР Inc.

Georgi Georgiev is Personal Systems Pre-Sales Specialist and Technical Consultant at НР Inc with focus on Publics sector customers and Enterprise Corporate Business, where the topic of security takes priority on a daily basis. Georgi has 20 years experience in IT, being part of large system integrators' teams, as well as working for leading industry vendors. During that time, he took part of developing the biggest IT projects in the country. He is part of HP team since 2011.

Dian Angelov

Printing Pre-Sales Specialist and Technical Consultant, НР Inc.

Dian Angelov is Pre-Sales Specialist and Technical Consultant at НР Inc. He joined HP team in 2003 bringing vast knowledge and great expertise in printing solutions and security environment. Dian is working on top IT projects in HP Inc. His previous role was in Hewlett-Packard Bulgaria Demo Center, leading the office and large format printing solutions, along with scanner solutions.

Ivan Stanchin

Senior Manager Information Security, UniCredit Bulbank

Eng. Vesselin Yankov

NetIQ/Novell/SUSE Representative for Bulgaria

Eng. Vesselin Yankov started his career as scientist in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Sinc e 1991 he was appointed at management positions in Bulgarian and international IT companies – Sales Director at SEI Elbatex Bulgaria LTD, Director Distribution for SEE at Xerox Inc and since 2004 and curently he is representative of Novell Inc for Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, currently Micro Focus International. Twice he was appointed as Executive Director of the Bulgarian Association of Information Technology. He has completted a long therm training on Electronics and Information Technology Legislation in EICTA, Brusseles.

Svetlin Iordanov

Managing Director, Escom Bulgaria

Svetlin Iordanov is an expert in the field of the Information Security. He has participated or managed a number of projects related to IT Security audits, perimeter protection, information and information assets protection, etc. Since 2001 he is a Managing director of Escom Bulgaria - Value Add Distributor на DELL Sonicwall, Fujitsu (scanners), NetIQ, Novell, SUSE, Trend Micro, WatchGuard, Vasco Data Security, ZScaler, with a focus on the Information Security and IT Infrastructure.

Iravan Hira

Managing Director, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Bulgaria

Iravan Hira is Managing Director of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Bulgaria and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Global Delivery Bulgaria Center since 2009. Under the leadership of Iravan Hira Hewlett Packard Bulgaria has been positioned among the top leaders in the IT sector in the country and achieves significant business results which took the Bulgarian branch of the company to the leading position in Central and Eastern Europe. Hewlett Packard Global Delivery Bulgaria Center is among the largest employers in the ICT industry in the country with more than 6000 highly qualified employees and export of services worth of BGN 260 million in 2014. Iravan has worked in Hewlett Packard Bulgaria since the establishment of the company in the country in 1998 and has held various sales and management positions. For high professional successes was honored twice with membership in the "Achievers Club" of global Hewlett Packard Company. Among the priorities of Iravan Hira are strengthening the hi-tech industry in Bulgaria, the introduction of innovations for sustainable economic growth, development and promotion of corporate social responsibility as an important public function of companies and encouragement of entrepreneurship in IT in the country. Because of its active work in these areas Iravan Hira was elected as Chairman of the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum in 2013. He is also member of the Board of Directors of American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria (AmCham), Junior Achievement Bulgaria, the Consultative Business Committee of University of Finance, Business and Entrepreneurship (VUZF) and the Expert Committee of Sofia University etc. Iravan Hira holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the Technical University in Sofia. He has special expertise in the field of new business development, sales management and corporate transformation. Married, with two children.

Bill Nikolopoulos

Senior Security Engineer, Check Point Software Technologies, Partner of ACT Sofia

Bill Nikolopoulos works as a Senior Security Engineer in Check Point Software Technologies for the last 8 years. His primary focus is Cyber Security, working with Advanced Threat Prevention technologies covering Network, Mobile and Cloud, and security solution design.

Lior Zamir

Presale Manager- Israel & SEE, Radware

Lior Zamir has more than 17 years of experience in the Israeli Hi-Tech industry. He has vast knowledge of the Security landscape, recognizing the needs and trends of current cyber threats for Enterprises and Telcos around the world. Lior helps Radware’s customers to define and identify the proper security solution for their network utilizing Radware’s solutions against DDoS and Application Level Attacks.

Ivaylo Stoyanov

Director "State Administration and Public Sector", Hewlett Packard Enterprise Bulgaria

Todor Tashev

Director Business development private sector, Paraflow Communications Ltd.

Todor Tashev is Director "Business development private sector" in "Paraflow Communications" Ltd. - a leading system integrator at the Bulgarian market with over 20 years of experience. He has been working for Paraflow for 13 years and has managed some of the key projects of the largest financial and banking institutions in Bulgaria. He has thorough knowledge and wealth experience in the field of corporate information infrastructure, unified communications systems , monitoring and management systems, cloud computing and information security.

Kamen Nestorov

Technical Consultant, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Bulgaria

Anton Fridrikh

Technical Advisor at CyberArk Eastern Europe Customer Success, Partner of AKAT Technologies

Anton Fridrikh, Technical Advisor at CyberArk Eastern Europe Customer Success, an engineer with more than 7 years of experience in security and access management, recently working as an expert in building privileged access security strategies with companies across all sectors.