Presenter Bios
Dr. Sascha-D. Bachmann, LL.M LL.D
State Exam (Ludwig Maximillians Universität, Germany), Assessor Juris, LLM
(Stell, RSA), LLD (UJ, RSA) Attorney (Munich High Court), FHEA
Associate Professor in Law
Visiting Associate Professor in War Studies – Swedish Defence University
Stockholm
As a British-German academic I joined the University of Bournemouth as an Associate Professor in International Law in August 2013. Prior to joining Bournemouth I worked as a Senior Lecturer in International and European Law at the University of Portsmouth and as a Reader in International Law at the University of Lincoln. I have been a member of the SLS since 2008.
In 2016 I was made an Extraordinary Visiting Professor (AP) in War Studies in the Department of Military Studies at the Swedish Defence University, Stockholm in recognition of my academic contributions to Military studies.
My teaching and research focus is on international legal subjects and work on research projects involve colleagues from the UK, South Africa, Israel, Sweden, the USA and Australia.
I was educated in Germany (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München), South Africa (Stellenbosch University and University of Johannesburg) and the United Kingdom (University of Portsmouth). Prior to completing a LL.M at Stellenbosch University, I was admitted as a German Rechtsanwalt (attorney at law) at the High Court of Munich.
My research (more than 40 outputs) is often interdisciplinary and shows a clear nexus to new Security Challenges in 21st Century: be it Hybrid Warfare, Bankrupting terrorism, on Hybrid Warfare, Information Operations, Russia’s use of Lawfare within its legal, military and historical context:
Since October 2012 I published over 18 academic pieces on the subject of Hybrid War and Conflict, some of which were published in leading international journals. I presented on Hybrid War at NATO in April 2016, at the Austrian Ministry of Defence in November 2015, at the Swedish Defence University in April 2016, the South African National Defence Force, the Faculty of Military Science of Stellenbosch University and the Royal Danish Defence College.
I am a former army officer (Lieutenant Colonel - German Army Reserve) with operational experience and career professional in law and higher education. In the last 20 years I have worked in various capacities and functions in the USA, the Middle East, South Africa and various European countries. I was seconded to the 23rd US MAR Rgt as a visiting exchange officer in 2006.
I co-authored two submissions of evidence to the UK Parliament’s Defence Committee on Hybrid Warfare and Russia’s Arctic ambitions which were published in 2016 and 2017. I also presented to the Austrian MoD and had a piece published in its Annual Security Assessment.
I am a regular contributor to NATO’s Legal Advisor Web (LAWFAS) with my publications being used as NATO reference documents (Legal Advisors Worktop Functional Area System (LAWFAS) by The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).
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William Bond
William Bond, MSIT Graduate Student, Department of Information Technology, College of Computing and Software Engineering, Kennesaw State University. He will be receiving his Master of Science Information Technology from Kennesaw State University in the Fall of 2017. He received his Bachelor of Applied Science in Information Technology from Kennesaw State University in 2016. He received an Associates of Applied Science Degree in Network Specialist from North Georgia Technical College in Clarkesville, Georgia in 2012. His research interests include Web Services vulnerabilities and mitigations, Information Security and Data Analytics. He served in the United States Army as a Field Artilleryman and as a Non-Commissioned Officer. He is a member the Upsilon Pi Epsilon International Honor Society for the Computing and Information Disciplines.
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Noelle Cowling
Noëlle van der Waag-Cowling is a military science professional with 25 years of experience in the Department of Defence, South Africa and 20 years of experience in South African Higher Education at Stellenbosch University. She is the coordinator of the Cyber Project at the Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa. She has served as assistant editor of the journal Scientia Militaria, published in various national and international scientific publications and been a participant in international military education projects. Noëlle teaches fifth dimension warfare and low intensity conflict in the Department of Military Strategy, Stellenbosch University.
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Dr. Hakan Gunneriusson
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Lech Jenczewski
Lech J. Janczewski MEng (Warsaw), MASc (Toronto), DEng (Warsaw), ITCP
Dr Janczewski has over forty years’ experience in information technology. He was the managing director of the largest IBM installation in Poland, and project manager of the first computing centre in the Niger State of Nigeria. He is Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, Department of Information Science and Operations Management. His area of research includes data security management with the special emphasis on cyber terrorism. Dr Janczewski wrote above 300 publications presented in scientific journals, conference proceedings and books. His last book, Cyber Conflicts and Small States, was published in January 2016 by Ashgate Publishing (United Kingdom). He is the chairperson of the New Zealand Information Security Forum, secretary of the IFIP TC-11 committee (Security and Privacy Protection in Information Processing Systems) and the Fellow of the Institute of IT Professionals (former New Zealand Computer Society).
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COL Lazlo Kovacs
Colonel Laszlo Kovacs is a professor at the National University of Public Service (NUPS). He graduated from the Military Technical College as an electronic warfare officer in the Hungarian Army in 1991. During his military career, he served in various positions in different electronic warfare units. He earned his master's degree at NUPS in Budapest in 1999, and his Ph.D. in the field of military technical science in 2004. He has been working in military higher education since 2002.
Colonel Kovacs is a full-time professor in the Department of Electronic Warfare at NUPS, Hungary. He engages in scientific research in cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, information warfare and critical information infrastructure protection. He won the Research Scholarship for the Hungarian Academy of Sciences with cyber terrorism research themes in 2005 and 2009. He leads Ph.D. students as a scientific adviser in the fields aforementioned. He also serves as the head of the NUPS Cybersecurity Research Team.
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Dr. Csaba Kraznay
Dr Csaba Krasznay, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor and conducts research on cybersecurity at the National University of Public Service, Hungary. He leads the Cybersecurity Academy at NUPS as a Program Director. He is a member of board at the Hungarian E-government Association and Voluntary Cyberdefence Coalition. He received his MSc in 2003 in Electrical Engineering at Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and his Ph.D. at NUPS. He was elected to the “Most Influential IT Security Expert of the Year 2011”. He is also employed by Balabit where he acts as a Security Evangelist. He is responsible for the vision and strategy of Balabit's Privileged Access Management solutions.
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Neal Kushwaha
Mr. Neal Kushwaha's background focuses on the IT security, physical security, IT infrastructure, and physical data center design for classified spaces. With over 21 years of experience in the domain, he has helped private and public sector organizations make their datacenters and systems work for them. He has successfully moved 30 data centers covering 3 continents. Annually, he hosts a conference on cyber and data centers in Ottawa, Canada known as DCAR.
When he is not working at Impendo Inc., he is busy training to climb his next big mountain. Neal is an accomplished mountaineer and was the lead of a spring 2014 Lhotse/Everest ascent team. As habituated as he is with the ever-strenuous responsibility for the lives of an international ascent team, seeing his shadow in the clouds and watching the sun crest over the curvature of the earth are sights that will most likely never tire him.
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Dr. Edward L. Mienie
Academics: BA (Law), University of South Africa, 1984; Ph.D. International Conflict Management, Kennesaw State University, 2014; International Relations, Trade, Finance, Media, and Law Courses, School of Diplomacy in South Africa, 1987-1989; Courses in Conflict Resolution and Negotiation, World Trade Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 1996; SAP & ASAP Certification (Walldorf, Germany), Enterprise Resource Planning, 1998; Leadership Training, South African Infantry, 1978-1979. Professional Experience: Executive Director Strategic & Security Studies Program & External Relations, UNG, 2017; Associate Vice President Executive Affairs, UNG, 2015-17; Executive Advisor, Applied Software Technology, 2002-2015; SAP Software Consultant, 1999-2010; Diplomat, South Africa, 1987-1998: Deputy-Ambassador to Switzerland, 1994-1998; Political Advisor, Minister of Foreign Affairs, South Africa, 1992-1994; Political Advisor to Ambassador and US Government/Congressional Liaison, Washington, D.C., 1989-1992; Active Military Conscript (Angolan War), Infantry, 1979-1983. Research Interests: State Fragility; Role of Public Diplomacy in Conflict Management; Counter-Terrorism; Nuclear Non-Proliferation. Language Skills: English (fluent); Afrikaans (fluent); German (fluent); Dutch (functional); Flemish (functional).
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Victor C. Parker
Victor Parker has taught at the University of North Georgia since 2001. He enjoys serving and working with the students at UNG. He has served with as an Advisor for The Student Government Association for nearly ten years. He has been a strong mentor for many students and has won several academic advising and teaching awards. With a doctorate in law and an M.B.A., one current research interest involves the intersection of law, computer science, and technology. He currently lives in the North Georgia Mountains with his wife, three children, two dogs, three cats, and two rabbits.
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Dr. Bryson R. Payne
Dr. Bryson Payne is the founding Director of the Center for Cyber Operations Education at the University of North Georgia, an NSA Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense. He is also a tenured professor of computer science at UNG, where he has taught aspiring cyber professionals since 1998. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP®) and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), among other industry certifications. He was also the first Department Head of Computer Science at UNG and enjoys working with K-12 schools worldwide to promote computer science education.
Featured in CIO magazine, Campus Technology, and the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Payne is the best-selling author of Teach Your Kids to Code: A Parent-Friendly Guide to Python Programming (2015, No Starch Press), now published in five languages (Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese and English). His new book, Learn Java the Easy Way (2017, No Starch Press) hit the shelves this fall, and he’s a popular online instructor with over 20,000 students enrolled from more than 150 countries, including the highly-rated Udemy course Real-World Ethical Hacking (2017). He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia State University and has published articles in scholarly and trade journals, in addition to speaking regularly at regional and national conferences on computer science and cybersecurity education.
Dr. Payne lives north of Atlanta, Georgia, with his lovely wife, Bev, two sons, Alex and Max, and three cats, Leo, Rocky and Pixel.
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Given Shingange
Shingange is Director of Connecting The Dots Training and Consulting Services. He is also the founder of a Non Profit Company that deals with Career and Organizational Development, as well as the 2IC of Regiment President Steyn a reserve force unit in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Shingange is a former permanent force member of the South African National Defence Force (currently serving as a Reserve Force member) and a graduate of the South African Military Academy. He is currently studying towards an MPhil in Knowledge and Information Systems Management at Stellenbosch University.
Shingange has worked in different industries, occupying various senior positions. He has worked in the Private Security Sector, Construction, Waste Management, Training, and the Hospitality Sector. He has also provided consulting services to different organizations in the public and the private sector. He is currently working on developing Mobile Apps and working on the development of ICT security platforms.
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Bruce W. Watson
Bruce Watson is chief scientist at IP Blox – a developer of leading edge technologies for deep-packet inspection, with a focus on performance and virtualization. Academically, he is co-founder and co-director of the distributed FASTAR Research Group, director of the Centre for Decision Making and Knowledge Dynamics, and co-director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research. Bruce holds a professorship at Stellenbosch University and a visiting professorship in the Department of Computer Science at King’s College London. With more than a dozen researchers, his FASTAR Research Group performs fundamental research in new algorithms and implementations for high performance pattern matching.
Watson’s first Ph.D is in computing science and engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology, after studying discrete mathematics and computer science at the University of Waterloo. He later returned to Eindhoven as chair of Software Construction. Watson’s second Ph.D, in computer science, is from the University of Pretoria in 2012.
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Moderator Bios
Alfred Barker
Assistant Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Security Officer
Cybersecurity, Information Technology Services, Board of Regents
University System of Georgia
Alfred Barker had a long distinguished military and higher education career before joining the University System of Georgia, Information Technology Services (USG/ITS) in November 2015. A former Marine, Alfred has 17 years of experience designing, planning, directing and coordinating activities in cybersecurity for higher education. He came to USG/ITS from the University of North Georgia where he was a principle member of their strategic leadership team. Alfred develops and manages cybersecurity governance, policies and procedures necessary to reduce or mitigate the loss of the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information, and information system assets for the University System of Georgia.
Alfred is a member of the CISO Executive Network, InfraGard, INTERFACE-Atlanta, SANS.EDU, University System of Georgia’s CIO Security Advisory Group and Project Management Group. Alfred has a Master of Science in information security with academic honors from Lewis University and is a graduate of the EDUCAUSE Leadership Program and a member of EDUCAUSE HEISC. He also is a GIAC Information Security Professional, certified forensic examiner, and holds over 20 professional and technical certifications.
Alfred provides cybersecurity leadership to the University System of Georgia, which is composed of 28 higher education institutions made up of 47,000 faculty/staff and over 329,000 student. The institutions including research universities, comprehensive universities, state universities and state colleges. In addition, the Georgia Public Library System, encompassing approximately 389 facilities in 61 library systems throughout Georgia, is also part of the University System. Finally, the University System includes the Georgia Archives, which identifies, collects, manages, preserves, publicizes, and provides access to records and information of Georgia and its people.
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Robin Dorff, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Professor of Political Science at Kennesaw State University
Dr. Dorff is Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) and Professor in the Department of Political Science & International Affairs. He joined KSU as Dean of CHSS in July 2012 from the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College where he was Research Professor of National Security Affairs (2007-2012) and also held the General Douglas MacArthur Chair of Research since 2009. After completing his M.A. and Ph. D. at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Dr. Dorff held faculty positions at Michigan State University and North Carolina State University. He has served on the USAWC faculty as a Visiting Professor (1994-96) and as Professor of National Security Policy and Strategy in the Department of National Security and Strategy (1997-2004), where he also held the General Maxwell D. Taylor Chair (1999-2002) and served as Department Chair (2001-2004). Dr. Dorff has been a Senior Advisor with Creative Associates International, Inc., in Washington, DC, and served as Executive Director of the Institute of Political Leadership in Raleigh, NC (2004-2006). Dr. Dorff remains extensively involved in strategic leadership development, focusing on national security strategy and policy, and strategy formulation. His research interests include these topics as well as failing and fragile states, interagency processes and policy formulation, stabilization and reconstruction operations, and US grand strategy. He has published and lectured frequently on these topics and has spoken all over the U.S. and in Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Dr. Dorff is the recipient of the U.S. Army Superior Civilian Service Award, the U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, and the U.S. Secretary of State Distinguished Public Service Award.
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Matthew Stern
Vice President, Cyber for Intelligent Waves, LLC.
Matthew (Matt) Stern is the Vice President, Cyber for Intelligent Waves, LLC and provides cyber operations subject matter expertise to support a variety of organizations and customers. Highlights from his civilian experience include leading the contract team for the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and the National Cyber Protection System. In this role, he was responsible for managing and leading all aspects of program execution relating to the operational, analytical and engineering support to these programs. Matt is a retired combat veteran serving 22 years in the U.S. Army. His service culminated with command of 2d Battalion, 1st Information Operations Command, the Army Computer Emergency Response Team (ACERT) and Regional Computer Emergency Response Teams (RCERTs). This was one of the first units in U.S. Army history dedicated to cyberspace operations. Matt gained unparalleled knowledge and expertise through practical experience leading a variety of organizations providing U.S. military data communication and cybersecurity services worldwide. Matt is also a decorated veteran of Operations Desert Shield/Storm and Iraqi Freedom. Matt is an established expert on cyber threat analysis and practical approaches to defending cyber infrastructure. Matt holds a master’s degree in Information Systems and Computer Resource Management from Webster University and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Northern Illinois University.
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Poster Presenters
Cadet Vinicius Chitolina
Fourth-year Cadet graduating Military Sciences with emphasis in Signal Corps in Agulhas Negras Military Academy – Resende – Rio de Janeiro – Brazil.
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Iuri Khijakadze
I am Iuri Khijakadze, a junker at the National Defence Academy of Georgia. I was born in Russia on 21st of December, 1995. I grew up and live in Kutaisi, Georgia.
Before joining the NDA, I have finished a high school (2011) and the Cadets Military Lyceum (2014). I have been awarded for exceptional academic performance as well as for sports achievement (boxing).
My interest in IT and cyber issues has driven me to increase my knowledge in those fields. I follow a goal of constant learning and development in order to become a successful officer in service of the homeland.
I am married and I have a little daughter.
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2nd Lt. Federico Lagrasta
Born in Terracina, Italy, on June the 1 1995, he approached the military life in the Italian Air Force High School (Scuola Militare Aeronautica) Giulio Douhet, scientific department, in Florence on September 2011. After three years he joined the Army Military Academy (Accademia Militare) in Modena on August 2014 where he graduated 2nd Lieutenant of the Army Signal Corps, on September 2016.
For the time being he is attending the Army Institute for Applied Military Studies (Scuola di Applicazione) in Turin, second year, where he studies Strategic Sciences. He has been studying IT security for years and, as a Signal Corps officer, he is deeply interested in cyber operations from a military point of view.
He spends most his free time self developing technical skills that can be used also in his profession. With this aim he participates at numerous conferences and meetings. On the 26th of August 2017 he successfully passed the Offensive Security Certified Professional exam after an exhausting 48-hour-long session and obtained his OSCP certification.
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Cadet Shintaro Shiga
School: National Defense Academy (NDA) Yokosuka, Japan
Field of study: Department of Humanities, which mainly focuses on foreign languages, psychology, history, geography, anthology, and philosophy.
Shintaro Shiga, 21 years old in this September, was born and raised in Tokyo. He entered NDA in 2014. In his second year in NDA, he has achieved the best cadets prize in the department. In the last International Cadets Conference at NDA, he served as a panelist as well as a presenter. He has been practicing Kendo since 4 years old and qualified as the second grade both in Kendo and Iaido. Shintaro loves traveling and reading.
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Bradford T. Regeski
My name is Brad Regeski, and I’m currently a third-year student at the University of North Georgia, where I am presently pursuing a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science with a Cyber-Security minor. Discovered my passion for coding my senior year at Lassiter High School, where I participated in the local programming team and started coding artificial intelligence for the local robotics club. Attended the University of North Georgia eager to pursue software development but recognized the growing concern regarding the security aspect of the emerging inter-connected world. Currently participating in the Cyber-Hawks Cyber-Security Organization, UNG Coding Team and the UNG Rock Climbing Club. In my off time I am an avid Raspberry Pi enthusiast, rock climber and volunteer web developer for the local community of Dahlonega.
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Deaconescu Delia-Bianca
My name is Deaconescu Delia-Bianca, I am a student in the ‘’Nicolae Bălcescu’’ Land Forces Academy Sibiu of Romania.I have one more year to study until I graduate and then I will have practice in my field. My military branch is Signals and I am interested in communications.
I came from Râmnicu Vâlcea city but now I stay in Sibiu and my email deliadeaconescu@yahoo.com.
I am honored because I study in this academy, it was a pleasure to meet new friends and learn a lot of new things. My life has changed enormously since I enter in military life but I am glad to be here. I have some hobbies like sports, music, photography and walks.
I am so delighted because I have the opportunity to travel in America and I can not wait to meet new friends, to visit beautiful places and also to participate at this tremendous symposium.
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Jacob C. Malimban
Jacob Malimban is a third semester student of the University of North Georgia in pursuit of a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science and a Cyber Security minor. During his senior year of high school, he found enjoyment as an IT intern for the school as well as learning to program with Java in his AP Computer Science class. From there, he was accepted into UNG and drives to the Dahlonega campus. Presently, he is the Honors Program Historian and the Olympic Pistol Treasurer, as well as an active member of UNG’s Programming and Cyberhawks (Cyber Security) team.
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Cadet Roger Causey
I am Cadet Roger Causey from the Virginia Military Institute, located in the Lexington Virginia, and I am here to present the “VMI Cyber Club”. I grew up in Chesterfield County, outside of Richmond VA. I am currently the Cadet First Sergeant of F Company, a member of the Cyber Club at VMI, Assistant Cadet in Charge of the Wrestling Club, and an Army ROTC Cadet. I got into Networking when I was 15 creating a game server for my friends and me to play on. I thought this was really fascinating and soon after enrolled in the Cisco Networking Academy. There I learned how to create home and enterprise networks alongside learning exploits on these networks. I have been furthering my education as a CIS Major at VMI and participating in Internships through the US Army.
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Marek Olšan
My name is Marek Olšan. I am from the Czech Republic. I am 26 years old. I was born on 14. 10. 1991 in Polička. I live in a small village called Banín with my mom and my grandma. It is about 60 km north of Brno. I went to elementary school in Rohozná, which is a small village 6 km away from Banín. Then I went to Grammar school in Jevíčko. Now I study at the University of Defense in Brno. My field of study is communication and information systems. Now I continue in master’s degree program, which is divided into communication part and information part. I chose information part. After university, I would like to work in National Cyber and Information Security Agency.
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Lieutenant Andrew Tye
Lieutenant Andrew Tye is a Senior Naval Instructor for the Naval ROTC at The Citadel. He is a graduate student in computer and information science with a concentration in cybersecurity.