Below are the ICCWS Biographies of the Conference and Programme Chairs, Key Note Speakers and Mini-Track Chairs.
Dr Jaco du Toit. Dr Jaco du Toit works as a senior lecturer at the Academy of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Johannesburg. He is the director at the Centre for Cyber Security. Jaco worked for nearly 20 years in the computer industry before becoming a full-time lecturer. His research areas include Cyber Security, focusing on privacy and mobile operating environments. A specific interest to him is research in increasing the protection of private information using decentralised data and access control models.
Prof Brett van Niekerk. Prof van Niekerk (PhD, CISM) is an Associate Professor in IT at the Durban University of Technology and a research fellow at the Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa at Stellenbosch University. He is chair of the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group on ICT Uses in Peace and War, and co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Cyber Warfare and Terrorism. He has participated in working groups for the Paris Call on Trust and Security in Cyberspace, the European Cyber Agora, the international research advisory group for the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace.
Key Note Speakers
Prof Joey Jansen van Vuuren (PhD) heads the research at the Computer Science Department at Tshwane University of Technology and is the Vice Chair of IFIP (Federation for Information Processing) Working Group 9.10. She is also one of the coordinators of SA for the BRICS Integrated Thematic Group Computer Science and Information Security (ITG-CSIS). Her research focus on cybersecurity, education, government, policy and culture. She was the coordinator of the South African Cybersecurity Centre of Innovation for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) that initiated several cybersecurity government initiatives in South Africa. The centre also focused on the promotion of research collaboration, cybersecurity education and the exchange of cyber threats. She was also involved in the development of cybercrime strategies for the South African Police Services. Previously as the Research Group Leader for Cyber Defence at CSIR, she gave the strategic research direction for the research conducted for the South African National Defence Force and Government sectors on Cyber Defence. She has spent over 30 years in academia and research, and she has published various journal papers, conference papers, and book chapters on cyber security governance. She has presented on numerous forums, such as national conferences, and also international conferences, some of which she has been invited to as the key note speaker.
Dr Manuel Corregedor is currently employed as the Chief Executive Officer at Telspace Africa. Manuel has a passion for Information Security and over the years has gained a significant amount of knowledge and experience in the both the technical (operational) and management areas of Information Security. He has also done a significant amount of research in the area of Information Security and holds the following degrees from the University of Johannesburg: a BSc and a BSc Honours in Information Technology, an MSc in Information Technology in the field of Information Security and a PhD Computer Science in the field of Information Security. He also holds a number of Information Security related certifications.
Mini Track Chairs
Dr. Zakariya Belkhamza is currently a member of faculty at the computer information Systems department, Ahmed Bin Mohammed Military College, Doha, Qatar. His area of expertise is information systems, strategic information systems, system design and architecture. Dr. Zakariya Belkhamza holds a Ph.D. in Information systems. He has published several papers in International journals and has authored and edited several books in the area of information systems.
Dr. Jason C. Brown is a research scientist and assistant professor at the Army Cyber Institute at West Point. He teaches risk management and organizational security, and as a futurist, he studies emerging threats, technological and social trends, and responses to those threats. A currently serving officer with the U.S. Army, Dr. Brown has worked within the intelligence, information operations, and cyber career fields. He has authored technical reports on the future of extremism, information warfare, cyber enabled financial crimes, and Chinese soft power.
Dr Manuel Corregedor is currently employed as the Chief Executive Officer at Telspace Africa. Manuel has a passion for Information Security and over the years has gained a significant amount of knowledge and experience in the both the technical (operational) and management areas of Information Security. He has also done a significant amount of research in the area of Information Security and holds the following degrees from the University of Johannesburg: a BSc and a BSc Honours in Information Technology, an MSc in Information Technology in the field of Information Security and a PhD Computer Science in the field of Information Security. He also holds a number of Information Security related certifications.
Dr. Jessica Dawson is the Information Warfare Division Chief at the Army Cyber Institute at West Point. She holds a Ph.D. from Duke Sociology and teaches social inequality and social theory. Her research focuses on the digital disruption of social processes. She serves as a special advisor to Army senior leaders on social media threats and information warfare.
Dipl.-Phys. Jan Herbst graduated with a Physics diploma from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. He worked in the fields of laser physics, molecular beam epitaxy related to quantum dots, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. As a Researcher and Ph.D. candidate, he is working at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in Kaiserslautern, Germany. His research includes Biometric Security, entity authentication, (Wireless) Body Area Networks, and Security Applications in Combination with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Christoph Lipps, graduated in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kaiserslautern, where he meanwhile lectures as well. He is a Senior Researcher and Ph.D. candidate at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in Kaiserslautern, Germany, heading the Cyber Resilience & Security Team of the Intelligent Networks Research Department. He is a member of the committee of the ICCWS and ECCWS, as well as a scientific committee member of various international conferences, and reviewer of several journals. His research focuses on Physical Layer Security (PhySec), Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Dr Trishana Ramluckan is the Research Manager at Educor Holdings and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s School of Law. Previously she was Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Law and an Adjunct Lecturer in the Graduate School of Business at the UKZN. She is a member of the IFIP working group on ICT Uses in Peace and War. She holds a Doctor of Administration (IT and Public Governance) and in 2020 she was listed as in the Top 50 Women in Cybersecurity in Africa. Her research areas include Cyber Law and Governance.
Dr. Char Sample is a researcher with ICF. Dr. Sample also teaches at Boise State University. She has given guest lecturers at Bournemouth University, Rensselaer Polytechnic University and Royal Holloway University. Dr. Sample has over 20 years’ experience in the information security industry. Dr. Sample’s research focuses on deception, and the role of cultural values in cybersecurity events. More recently she has begun researching the relationship between human cognition and machines. Presently Dr. Sample is continuing research on modeling cyber behaviors by culture, other areas of research are data resilience, cyber-physical systems and industrial control systems.
Dr Stilianos Vidalis, Head of the Networks, Security and Systems subject group at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Hertfordshire. Leading the development of an innovative technology that automates threat assessments. Experienced in all aspects of Information Operations (IO) with excellent understanding of the Information Security (IS) lifecycle. Acted as an instructor for the British Armed Forces Intelligence Personnel on penetration testing and digital forensics for a number of years. Acted as a cyber-expert for the Welsh Government and for the Wales University Officers' Training Corps (WUOTC).