Swiss Security Awareness Day

Dr Katja Iseli has been working at Kernkraftwerk Leibstadt AG since January 2020, currently as Head of Development & Learning. She is responsible for the further development of human and organisational aspects, including the safety culture programme, the human-machine interface, the LEAN programme and central training and basic vocational training. She previously worked as a project manager and career counsellor at the canton of Basel-Landschaft and in the HR department of various SMEs. After completing a commercial apprenticeship and studying psychology at the ZHAW, she obtained her doctorate from the University of Hildesheim in 2014. Dr Iseli is continuously training in psychology and related fields.

Nico Ebert is Professor for Information Systems at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and head of the Human Factors and Risks group. He has a PhD in Information Systems from the University of St. Gallen and several years of practical experience in IT consulting. His research interests include organizational and behavioral aspects of security and privacy, security and privacy by design, and human-computer interaction.

Verena Zimmermann is Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) for Security, Privacy and Society at ETH Zürich. Her research interests comprise the Human Aspects of Safety, IT Security and Privacy. She has completed her dissertation in the interdisciplinary research area of Usable Security at TU Darmstadt. Within the research group Work and Engineering Psychology and ATHENE, the German National Center for Applied Cybersecurity, she worked on several security-​​related research projects. The topics ranged from usable authentication over privacy-​​friendly smart home concepts and the human-​​centered design of hand-​​over tasks in smart cars to addressing security challenges in smart cities.

Nicole van der Meulen is an expert and thought leader in the area of cybercrime and cybersecurity. Currently she serves as Cybersecurity Innovation Lead at SURF. Previously she was the Head of Policy & Development at Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), where she was responsible, amongst others, for the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA). Prior to Europol, she held various positions in the Dutch public sector, academia and nonprofit organisations all focused on enhancing the fight against cybercrime and improving cyber security. She obtained her PhD from Tilburg University on a comparative study focusing on digital identity fraud in the United States and the Netherlands.

Founder and managing director of the awareness agency known_sense based in Cologne/Germany, co-organizer of TAKE AWARE EVENTS, the biggest security awareness conference in Europe and, together with Michael Helisch, author of the first book on security awareness in German language. Since 2005, he has carried out awareness campaigns for internal communication and gamification events for employees of more than 100 companies in 60 countries and 30 languages. With known_sense, he has received numerous awards in the security branch, including the the German "OSPA - Oustanding Security Performance Award" (2015) for an "Outstanding Initiative for Security Training" and, together with T-Systems International, the "Most innovative awareness campaign" by Intzernbational Security Forum in 2013.

Timo Nöthling has been communicating for Siemens Energy since 2019 - initially in global communications, and from 2021 in cybersecurity. As content manager, he plans and implements multimedia content with the goal of anchoring cybersecure behavior in the DNA of the company and in the daily actions of all employees.

Johannes Hackstette has worked in communications for market leaders in the B2C and B2B sectors for over 15 years. In 2020, he joined Siemens Energy, one of the world's leading energy technology companies. Since May 2022, his team has been responsible for raising awareness of cybersecurity among all 97,000 employees and driving the development of a corporate culture characterized by cyber-secure working practices.

Jasmina Mešić is a team member of Slovenian national CSIRT and has coordinated Slovenia’s security awareness programme for over 10 years. The programme has won multiple awards for innovation and design, including the 2020 Slovenian Grand Security Award. Jasmina is a holder ofSANS Security Awareness Professional certificate and is certified Information Security manager ISO/IEC 27001:2022. She studied media communication at a faculty of electrical science and computer engineering what helps her to combine communications skills with a strong understanding of technology and cybersecurity.

Marcus Beyer has more than 20 years of experience as a communicator, change manager, moderator, social engineer and consultant in the field of IT and information security. Internal (project) communication with a focus on information security, IT and/or BCM processes is his métier, security awareness his mission. He has been responsible for the security awareness & training programmes at Swisscom (Schweiz) AG for almost 4 years and actively promotes the change process towards a stable and sustainable security culture within the company. He is a member of the Advisory Board at Hoxhunt, on the board of the Swiss Internet Security Alliance (SISA) and is the host of the ‘SecurityAwarenessInsider’ podcast.

Manu Alexander is an Information Security and Risk Manager specializing in security awareness at SBB. He creates tailored educational programs to reach SBB's diverse workforce, including office staff, train operators, railway police, and construction project managers. Educated in Austria, India, Switzerland, England, and Canada, he values diversity as crucial in cybersecurity. Manu actively exchanges knowledge with experts and attends conferences globally. He is also an examiner for ICT Berufsbildung Schweiz.

Rosanne feels that her current role as Product Manager Awareness & Training is the perfect combination of human behavior, cybersecurity and product development. She helps institutions and organizations in the Dutch education and research sector increase security and privacy awareness among faculty, students and staff. SURF provides awareness materials, e-learnings and more in the Cybersave Yourself awareness toolkit. As the Dutch National Research and Educational Network, they develop strategy and implement activities to support the R&E sector by achieving a higher maturity level for security and privacy awareness

Melanie Knieps is a researcher with a background in psychology who focuses on the social aspects of cybersecurity at the Digital Society Initiative of the University of Zurich. She is leading the "Cyber Resilience Network for the Canton of Zurich" (CYREN ZH), which aims to protect the self-determination of Zurich as a business location and its population by establishing a task force of civilian first responders for the digital space. The project also seeks to strengthen cooperation between various actors in the canton of Zurich and provide new training and education opportunities in the field of cybersecurity.

Melanie is also a postdoctoral researcher in the NRP-77 project "Promoting trust in cybersecurity through ethics and law," which aims to provide valuable data, insights, and recommendations regarding the non-technical aspects of cybersecurity. Her particular interest lies in identifying the factors that can promote knowledge exchange among cybersecurity experts, such as trust and other organizational components.

Prof. Dr. Kristin Weber is the Vice President for Digitalisation and CIO at the Technical University Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS). As a professor at the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Systems, she researches and teaches about the human factor in information security. Kristin Weber is also an author, speaker, and consultant for information security awareness, ISMS, data governance and data quality management. She served as Information Security Officer for THWS 2017-2024.

Katja Dörlemann is a Security Awareness Expert at Switch. She supports the Swiss education, research and innovation community and Internet community in dealing with the human factor in information security. She promotes knowledge sharing and networking among experts in the field to advance the topic of security awareness. Additionally, she is a board member of the Swiss Internet Security Alliance. Katja has been gaining experience in the field of security awareness for almost 15 years and holds a PhD in General and Comparative Literature from the University of Zurich.

Robert Lohmann is an expert in digital learning with a focus on creating new ideas and products. He has now been working for imc - information multimedia communication AG for three years as Product Manager Learning Content. Previously, he taught and researched at several German and European universities and worked for a large German foundation in Berlin.