With more than 20 years of hands-on technical and executive leadership experience in IT security architecture & technology, Security Operations Centres, Managed Security Services (MSSP), and Industrial Control security, Gert is convinced that you can make your cybersecurity work for you as a gain instead of a pain.
He has always advocated for IT security solutions that are business-aligned, focused, and cost-effective. Hence, he founded together with Tom Van den Eynde Cybervalue. We are passionate about security solutions that provide value to an organization’s performance, reliability, agility, and its reputation.
Before his current role, Gert was CTO at a dedicated security ‘scale-up’ in London focused on providing Managed Detection and Response services. Before that, Gert acted as Verizon’s Subject Matter Expert in security analytics, SOC, and SCADA/ICS protection and led a global team of Practice Leaders focused on designing and delivering threat management solutions.
What does Gert do?
At Cybervalue, Gert advises customers on their cyber security strategy by looking at what security controls and risks they have today and help create a security roadmap in line with their security requirements and desired risk posture. He also helps customers with the acquisition and implementation of these security solutions and services. Besides that, Gert and Tom help customers prepare for and respond to cyber incidents, help improve security in industrial control environments and serve as CISO-ad-interim.
Next to helping end-customers, we advice service providers on improving their security offering and provide due-diligence to venture capital firms that are looking to invest in service providers.
Gert at the Data Protection Institute
Gert has a deep technical and strategical understanding in cybersecurity topics which means he can bring real hands-on experience in the courses he deliver for DPI along with his colleague Tom Van den Eynde.
Quote
“He who defends everything, defends nothing” is a quote by Frederik The Great. For us it means no IT Security team can monitor every application, network, system and information asset that a company has, no incident response team can follow up on every alert and security event, and no manager has the budget for every new security technology that is announced. At Cybervalue we focus on those risks that are critical for your organisation by applying the following methodology.
“Knowing what you have before you can protect it” is the foundation of our successful approach, combined with a risk-based prioritisation of your information assets. Based upon this, controls need to be implemented or existing ones optimised that consider the asset’s importance and risks, resulting in the right protection level.
Gert as a teacher
Besides the theoretical frameworks, it’s important that students get guidance on how to use these frameworks in a practical manner so that they are effectively improving cybersecurity in their organizations.
Other teachers
Jos Dumortier
Prof. Dr. Jos Dumortier is a leading expert with more than 30 years of experience in ICT and data protection law. He has advised numerous European governments and has in-depth knowledge of the legal frameworks governing GDPR compliance. His experience and expertise make him the ideal instructor to make this complex subject accessible and relevant for DPOs and privacy professionals.
Gert Van den Poel
With more than 20 years of hands-on technical and executive leadership experience in IT security architecture & technology, Security Operations Centres, Managed Security Services (MSSP), and Industrial Control security, Gert is convinced that you can make your cybersecurity work for you as a gain instead of a pain.
He has always advocated for IT security solutions that are business-aligned, focused, and cost-effective. Hence, he founded together with Tom Van den Eynde Cybervalue. We are passionate about security solutions that provide value to an organization’s performance, reliability, agility, and its reputation.
Before his current role, Gert was CTO at a dedicated security ‘scale-up’ in London focused on providing Managed Detection and Response services. Before that, Gert acted as Verizon’s Subject Matter Expert in security analytics, SOC, and SCADA/ICS protection and led a global team of Practice Leaders focused on designing and delivering threat management solutions.
Tom Van den Eynde
With more than 20 years of hands-on technical and executive leadership experience in IT Security Architecture & Technology, Security Operations Centres (SOC), Managed Security Services (MSSP), Information Security Strategy and Governance (CISO), Incident Response and OT Security, Tom is convinced that you can make Cyber Security working for you as a gain instead of a pain.
Prior to his current role as co-founder and managing partner at Cybervalue, Tom was technical operations executive and CISO at a dedicated security ‘scale-up’ in London focused on providing Managed Detection and Response services. Before that, Tom was CISO at Worldline and performed strategic consulting roles at both HPE and IBM. Tom led Verizon’s global consulting practice focused on security analytics, SOC, SCADA/ICS protection and threat management solutions.
Ward Duchamps
- Entrepreneur and innovator in security, privacy, and identity
- Pioneer in Consumer Identity and Access Management (CIAM)
- Thought leader in authorizations and access control
- Experienced in various company types, ranging from startups to publicly listed multinationals
- Values transparency, sustainability, knowledge transfer, and digital inclusion
Peter Geelen
- Over 25 years of experience in IT, mainly information, cloud and cyber security.
- Independent security consultant since 2016
- Training and coaching in information security since 2019
Bart De Win
Bart holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from KULeuven, as well as a Ph.D. in Application Security from KULeuven.
He has 25 years of experience in cybersecurity and is working as a Director in the Cyber&Privacy unit at PwC Belgium. He is also co-lead of the OWASP SAMM project.
Christian De Boeck
Christian holds a PhD in Sciences from the University of Brussels and works as an independent consultant, auditor and coach.
Since more than 25 years, he is supporting executives and leaders looking to increase their own resilience as well as the resilience, continuity and sustainability of their enterprises.
He’s been working in very diverse and international environments abroad and in Belgium (BNPParibasFortis, Record Bank / ING, Sibelga, PwC, NMBS, Baloise, Etablissements Français du Sang, Roche pharma, Hamon, …).
Christian’s vision and experience from the field is that best resilient enterprises stay in business and grow by also caring about their people, technologies and environment. Hence the need for a winning sustainability strategy supports fight against climate change and reduction of the environmental footprint.
On a more personal touch, he is the proud father of 2 teen girls, and that’s another strong thrive for developing resilient paths on a daily base and offering his family a better future.
Stephen Smith
Stephen has some 25 years of experience in IT and 12 years in OT cyber risk management, with experience in business strategy, competitive analysis and cyber risk management. He has been working as an independent consultant for 22 years.
Stefaan Van daele
Stefaan’s professional journey started way back in 1988 as an engineer in the R&D unit of Agfa Gevaert. After some intermediate company changes, Stefaan joined IBM in 1997 as Architect for Systems management solutions first, and since 2001 for (cyber)security solutions. In his role as Security Architect, he fulfilled several positions in Benelux, Europe and at global level. Also, he achieved in 2015 his Level 3 Architect Certification (Open Group Distinguished Architect) and since 2021 he is the Benelux Architect Profession leader (across all IT domains). In his current role as member of a WW team, he assists IBM Clients with security innovative projects.
Eric De Smedt
- Over 30 years of experience in IT, mainly in information security
- Expert Security Consultant at Toreon since 2019
- 8 years at Telenet, the last 4 of which as being responsible for information security (CISO-role)
- 23 years at EDS (later HP) in various technical roles including development, conducting security assessments for international clients, security incident response and forensics and a lot more…
- CISSP since 2008
- ISO27001 Lead Implementer
Thomas Heyman
- PhD in secure software engineering from the KU Leuven
- 15 years of experience in cybersecurity and secure software engineering
Steven Wierckx
- Application Security Expert at Toreon
- Guest lecturer at various colleges
- More than 20 years of experience in programming, testing and security
Sebastien Deleersnyder
- Master degree in applied Computer science at the University of Ghent
- 20+ years of experience in cybersecurity and privacy
- Co-founder and CTO at Toreon
- Threat modeling trainer at Black Hat
- Co-founder and chapter leader of OWASP Belgium
Patrick Soenen
- Partner at Qualified Audit Academy
- 20 years of Experience in Audit related to information technology, governance and privacy
- Trainer at Institute of Internal Auditors, UCL, ICHEC, ISACA, IFACI
- Secretary General of DPO-pro (Professional Assocation of DPO’s in Belgium)
- Board Member at Institute of Fraud Auditors
Vincent Buekenhout
- DPO indépendant au VDAB
- Leader sur l’éthique de l’intelligence artificielle ( Digital Ethicist) et les biais discriminants
- Conseil et expert en matière de Data Governance , Big Data et stratégie Data
- Mise en place de data roadmap, Corporate Data Model, programme data governance et de sécurité de l’information
- Papa et sportif, passionné de vin et de lecture
Christoph Balduck
- Managing Partner Data Trust Associates
- Over 10 years of experience in data management (including with Volvo) and 18 years of experience in IT.
- EU-certified Data Protection Officer (certification by the European Institute of Public Administration since 2015)
- Trainer at Vlerick Business School and I.T. Works
Peter Berghmans
- Managing partner and trainer at Data Protection Institute
- Lecturer Information Security at Thomas More Hogeschool Mechelen (since 1999)
- DPO in the healthcare sector
- Member of the Flemish Supervisory Commission (Vlaamse Toezichtcommissie – VTC)
- Active in data protection and information security since 2003
Herman Maes
- Industrial Engineer Electronics/ICT
- Active as a blogger online since 2002, always experiencing digital trends himself
- 17 years of IT consultancy and digital agency experience
- Freelance marketing strategist & Privacy officer
- Lecturer at Thomas More and practice assistant at Uhasselt
Maarten Stassen
- Partner with Crowell & Moring LLP
- Experience as a lawyer in Belgium and Spain
- Specialised in privacy and GDPR
- Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM)
- Former member of the advisory board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)
Bart van Buitenen
- Managing Director White Wire, founded in 2017
- Data Protection Officer and Data Protection Consultant
- Guest lecturer Information Security at Thomas More University College
- 7 years of data protection experience within the private, public and healthcare sectors
Bart Van den Brande
- Managing Partner at Sirius Legal Lawyers, founded in 2010
- 8 years of expertise in data protection and privacy for the media, advertising and entertainment industries
- Member of the Legal Committee of BAM (Belgian Association of Marketing)
- Member of the IP Practice Group of Consulegis, an international network of independent law firms
- Experience as a lecturer of drafting techniques for commercial contracts at VUB (2005-2013)
- Experienced speaker at seminars and various training courses
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