Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS)

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External Advisory Board

The External Advisory Board is set up as an advisory body so that the institute’s management team can receive independent external advice and feedback on activities and future plans of the Institute. Below is a list of its members.


Photo of Theo Dimitrakos

Theodosios Dimitrakos

(Chair) Head of Virtualisation & Cloud Security Research, Huawei Technologies

Theo is interested in creating, directing and delivering impactful innovation from senior leadership or advisory roles. He has over 25 years of experience in Information and Communications Technology including 17 years of experience in Trust and Information Security. Theo combines deep technical knowledge with strong leadership and people management skills and with a solid international reputation as a thought-leader who can also manage large-scale international research collaborations and innovation delivery projects. Theo’s expertise and thought-leadership experience spans a wide range of topics including Enterprise and Cloud Security, Cybersecurity, SOA and Web Services, Next Generation Network Security (including SDN and NFV security), Identity, Applied Cryptography, Privacy and Data Protection, Uncertainty Reasoning and Trust Management.

While working at BT, Theo developed the innovation strategy and new technologies roadmap on virtualization and cloud security and Theo directed the delivery of technological and business innovations in close collaboration with the Security Leadership Team and the IT Services and Security Portfolio product teams. Through his participation in expert groups and strategy boards, Theo has advised European Agencies, such as ENISA, industry forums such as ISF and CSA and the European Commission on both technological development and policy making issues. Theo has been a keynote speaker in international conferences and directed researchers in top Universities. Theo authored several technical books, scientific papers, guest editions of international journals and over forty patents. His innovation projects have received industry awards in the UK and continental Europe and he has received awards including a silver core medal from IFIP.


Photo of Jessica Barker Jessica Barker

Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Cygenta

Dr Jessica Barker is a leader in the human nature of cyber security and has been named one of the top 20 most influential women in cyber security in the UK. She is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Cygenta, where she follows her passion of positively influencing cyber security awareness, behaviours and culture in organisations around the world. She is the Chair of ClubCISO and a board member of BlackHat Executive Summit Europe and SANS Security Awareness Summit EU. She is a popular international keynote speaker and frequently appears in the media as an expert in cyber security.


Photo of Jennifer Brant Jennifer Brant

Director, Innovation Insights

Jennifer Brant provides policy analysis and strategic advice to companies, NGOs, and inter-governmental organizations on market access and regulatory issues, notably in the areas of technological innovation, healthcare, cybersecurity, intellectual property, and trade. Since 2010, she has been an independent consultant based in Switzerland.

Jennifer advises leading innovators from the private sector, along with NGOs and UN agencies such as the WHO and WIPO, on enabling policies for innovation, knowledge-sharing, healthcare delivery, and technology diffusion. She is on the Advisory Board of the African Women Entrepreneurship Collective (AWEC) and the Advisory Board of the Kent Interdisciplinary Research Center on Cybersecurity. She is an advisor to the Geneva Impact Hub on the Sustainable Development Goals. She is also a member of the International Gender Champions network.

Previously, Jennifer worked on WTO dispute settlement at Sidley Austin LLP in Geneva, on global trade policy matters for Oxfam in Washington, D C, and Geneva, and for Gianni Origoni & Partners in Milan. She has advised a broad range of clients, including WIPO, WHO, WTO, ILO, Doctors without Borders, Oxfam, IFPMA, Qualcomm, General Electric, P&G, Pfizer, Merck and Millipore Sigma, International Chamber of Commerce, Qualcomm, Cyber Readiness Institute, Microsoft, J&J, Center for Global Enterprise, Open Society Institute, and sovereign clients.

Jennifer has an MA in International Development and Economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS, an MA in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, and a BA in International Relations from UCLA, all with the highest honors. An American and Swiss national, she lives in Commugny, Switzerland, with her two daughters and too many pets.


photo of Daniele CattedduDaniele Catteddu

Chief Technology Officer, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)

Daniele Catteddu is an information security and risk management practitioner, technologies expert and privacy evangelist with over 15 years of experience. He worked in several senior roles both in the private and public sector. Daniele is member of various national and international security expert groups and committees on cyber-security and privacy, keynote speaker at several conferences and author of numerous studies and papers on Risk Management, Cyber Security and Privacy.

Currently, he is the Chief Technology Officer, at Cloud Security Alliance, where he is responsible to drive, on a global scale, the adoption of the technology strategy roadmap within key CSA lines of business: Research, Standards, Education and Products. He identifies technology trends, global policies and evolving social behavior and their impact on information security and on CSA’s activities. Daniele is the co-founder and executive of the CSA Open Certification Framework / STAR Program. Moreover, he manages the relations with European public institutions. Daniele leads the CSA International Standardization Council and he is member of the Italian Standard National Delegation at ISO, and contributes to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 (IT Security techniques), ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 38 (Cloud Computing and Distributed Platforms), ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 41 (Internet of Things and related technologies).

He is member of the Policy and Scientific Committee of the European Privacy Association and collaborates as lectures with the Maastricht University European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity. In the past Daniele worked at CSA as Managing Director for the EMEA Region, at ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency), as Expert in areas of Critical Information Infrastructure Protection (CIIP) and Emerging and Future Risks, and in particular, having a leading role in developing EU cloud security research. Before joining ENISA, Daniele worked as an Information Security consultant in the banking and financial sector. Daniele has a university degree in Business Administration and Economics from the University of Parma (Italy).


Photo of Ivan Djordjevic Ivan Djordjevic

Cloud Architect, Salesforce

Ivan first encountered Information Security in 2000, during his PhD at Queen Mary, London. He then held R&D positions at Rutherford Labs and British Telecom, before moving to customer facing roles as a solution architect at several vendors (including 2 start-ups), and as a senior manager at Deloitte’s cyber security practice.

Throughout his career, Ivan’s main focus was on IAM (Identity and Access Management) and enterprise security architectures, and more recently also on security compliance and data privacy. He holds several patents and a number of security-related industry certifications. Ivan is currently with Salesforce, helping customers address identity and cloud security challenges.


Photo of Sean HaleSean Hale

Principal Consultant, Mason Advisory Limited

Sean is a Principal Consultant at Mason Advisory who helps clients maximise their return on investments in IT and communications. Mason Advisory provide consultancy services to multi-sector clients including Financial Services, Emergency Services, Central /Local Government, Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical, Retail & FMCG, Energy & Water, Infrastructure Services, Not for Profit, Transport.

Prior to this Sean was a consultant in a public sector facing firm and former CIO for an East Kent shared service organisation.

Sean has over 25 years experience of leading and managing diverse technology teams and services within large public sector, private and third sector organisations. His leadership portfolio covers a wide repertoire including advising and coaching board level stakeholders and C Suite clients, business partnering, information governance, IT and Digital Strategy, contract management and procurement.

Sean is a futurist at heart and passionate about digital people, digital practice, new technologies, and how they align to transform business and humanity. Qualified to post graduate level and recently achieved an Executive Diploma in Digital Business Leadership.


Photo of Matt LewisMatt Lewis

Research Director, NCC Group

Matt is an experienced Technical Research Director with over 15 years working in Cyber Security. His specialisms include general security consultancy, scenario-based penetration testing, vulnerability research and development of security testing tools. He studied formal methods at Swansea (BSc Hons) and Oxford University (MSc). After university Matt joined GCHQ and spent several years working at CESG in their vulnerability research team, focussing on biometric and network security. After GCHQ he spent over 10 years in penetration testing (IRM and KPMG) as a CHECK Team Leader, providing security assurance to clients around network and application security across all sectors.


Photo of Brian LittlefairBrian Littlefair

Chief Executive Officer, Cambridge Cyber Advisers

Bryan Littlefair is the Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Cyber Advisers. He has over 20 years’ experience leading teams within information and cyber security. He specialises in advising executive teams and boards of some of the world’s largest organisations on their security strategy as well as providing security consultancy, guidance and mentorship to the Chief Information Security Officer community.

He has most recently been the Global Chief Information Security Officer at the Multinational Insurer Aviva, transforming their security capability as the organisation changed to a fully digital way of interacting with its client base. Before Aviva Bryan was the Global Chief Information Security Officer at Vodafone Group he created the Information Security function within the Global telco, created and embedded their security strategy and oversaw day to day security operations for over seven years. He also directed the Security Research Lab for British Telecom, participating in Global, EU and academic based research studies as well as driving relevant business transformation studies on behalf of BT.

He advises at an executive and non-executive level both Venture capital funds and security start-ups on their security strategy and product visions to ensure as well as working with several universities on both the academic and research aspects. Bryan holds several patents in the information security space and is a regular keynote speaker at security events.


Photo of Srijith NairSrijith Nair

Senior Product Owner, Booking.com

Srijith is driven to delivering strategic impact, through innovation and pragmatism, in the field of information security. He has more than a decade of experience in the industry working and leading teams in e-commerce, security, hi-tech and telecom verticals.

Srijith has advised governmental agencies such as ENISA, think-tanks like Takshashila and industry forums such as CSA on both technological development and cyber strategy issues. He has in-depth knowledge in Identity and Access Management, cloud and virtualisation security, applied cryptography and information warfare. He is currently at Booking.com helping strengthen the security of the platform and the risk posture of the company.

Srijith holds a PhD in Computer Science and has published several peer-reviewed papers in international journals and conferences and has also served on the Program Committees of several of them. He also has several patent under his name.


Photo of Anthony PhippsAnthony Phipps

Senior Manager – Digital Cyber Research, Lloyds Banking Group

Tony Phipps started his career as an engineer and has worked in a variety of fields including construction, electrical and electronic engineering and more recently, information technology. For the last 20 years he has specialised in Information and Physical Security. He obtained his first degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Greenwich in 1997 and a masters degree from University of Westminster in Information Technology Security in 2002. He is currently responsible for a small team that manages cyber security research for one of Europe’s largest Digital banks.


Photo of Mark RyanMark Ryan

Professor in Computer Security, University of Birmingham

Mark Ryan is Professor of Computer Security and leads the Security and Privacy group in Birmingham, where he also holds the HP Research Chair in Cyber Security. From 2010 to 2015, he was EPSRC Leadership Fellow, also at Birmingham. His recent work includes analysis and development of hardware security anchors (e.g., TPM, SGX); analysis and development of security protocols (e.g., in messaging, voting, authentication); and development of systems that address the tension between security and privacy.


Photo of Raj SamaniRaj Samani

Chief Scientist and McAfee Fellow, McAfee

Raj Samani is a computer security expert working as the Chief Scientist and McAfee Fellow for the cybersecurity firm McAfee. Raj has assisted multiple law enforcement agencies in cybercrime cases, and is special advisor to the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), Europol. Raj has been recognised for his contribution to the computer security industry through numerous awards, including the Infosecurity Europe hall of Fame, Peter Szor award, Intel Achievement Award, among others. Raj is also the co-author of the book Applied Cyber Security and the Smart Grid, CSA Guide to Cloud Computing, as well as technical editor for numerous other publications. He can be found on twitter @Raj_Samani.


Photo of Alan WoodwardAlan Woodward

Independent Cyber Security Advisor; Visiting Professor, University of Surrey

Alan began as a physicist, however, he developed an interest in computing early on through signal processing for gamma ray burst detectors, and so switched to engineering after his BSc. His post graduate research at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR), University of Southampton, was in adaptive filtering, and novel methods of recovering corrupted signals. After leaving the ISVR Alan worked for the UK government for many years. He has particular expertise in, and continues to conduct research into, cyber security, covert communications, forensic computing and image/signal processing. Alan has been involved in some of the most significant advances in computer technology which have seen him elected as a Fellow and chartered member of the British Computer Society, Institute of Physics and the Royal Statistical Society.