About Me

Senior Research Scientist at RISE and cybersecurity professional with over a decade of experience securing critical infrastructure and leading teams within complex, multi-stakeholder environments. Expert in coordinating technical and regulatory teams to bridge the gap between engineering execution and strategic governance, ensuring robust alignment with ISO/IEC 27001, GDPR, and emerging EU regulations. Proven ability to translate regulatory frameworks into practical, engineering-driven solutions for cross-domain environments. Recognized for orchestrating secure architecture design, cyber resilience, and governance by aligning cross-functional stakeholders to drive informed, risk-based decision-making. Collaborative team player and communicator, dedicated to fostering a security-first culture and empowering teams to navigate the evolving cybersecurity landscape.

Expertise Highlights

Roles: Working Group/Work Package/Task Leader, Security Architect, Principal Security Engineer, Research Scientist

Focus domains: IT/OT manufacturing, 5G/6G and NGWN, EV/SDV security, cloud-edge-IoT, Data spaces, Digital twins

Core strengths: Secure-by-design architecture, Zero-Trust, threat modeling, privacy engineering, secure data lifecycles, identity & access control, connector hardening for interoperable Data Spaces, AI/ML robustness

Governance & policy: Regulatory alignment and compliance engineering (NIS2, AI Act, ISO/IEC 27001), security roadmaps, requirements, and governance for large-scale pilots and testbeds

Leadership & collaboration: EU working groups and projects (Horizon, Digital Europe, COST); team-first, stakeholder-driven, cross-functional coordination

Funding: Co-secured research funding (≈ SEK 10M) for EU and national R&I initiatives

Certification: ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Auditor

Media: Featured in Wired, NBC News, and The Atlantic

Location: Stockholm, Sweden (EU/remote collaboration)

Current Projects (Selection)

  1. – Current

    TWINLOOP - Secure Digital Twin Framework & TwinOps for Software-Defined EVs [Horizon Europe 🇪🇺]

    Role: Task Leader (RISE) & Secure Systems Architecture

    Role Description: Design and deliver the secure reference architecture for an open, interoperable Digital Twin framework and TwinOps lifecycle for Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), enabling secure cross‑OEM data exchange.

    Keywords / impact: Secure reference architecture, Zero Trust, Digital Twin/TwinOps, DevSecOps, threat modeling, data protection, edge-cloud integration; enables secure cross-OEM data exchange.

    Consortium / WG: multi‑stakeholder research & industry consortium (see project page)

    Funding & call: Horizon Europe (2ZERO Partnership) - Advanced digital development tools for SDVs - HORIZON-CL5-2024-D5-01-05

    Learn more: twin-loop.eu ·

  2. – Current

    NexusForum Research & Innovation Roadmap, Cognitive Computing Continuum [Horizon Europe 🇪🇺]

    Role: Working Group Co‑Leader - Cybersecurity for the Cognitive Computing Continuum Roadmap

    Role Description: Leading cross-sector collaboration to define security, resilience, and data-governance R&I priorities for the Cloud–Edge–IoT Continuum, producing policy-oriented guidance and prioritized research actions for EU stakeholders.

    Keywords / impact: Roadmap leadership, cybersecurity governance, cloud-edge-IoT continuum, Zero Trust, data governance, PQC, confidential computing; produced EU R&I priorities and policy guidance.

    Consortium / WG: 120+ organisations & stakeholders / 25+ WG participants

    Funding & call: Horizon Europe (HORIZON) - Coordination and Support of Cognitive Computing Continuum research and policy (CSA) - HORIZON-CL4-2023-DATA-01

    Learn more: NexusForum.eu · NexusForum R&I Roadmap (first draft, Mar 2025)

  3. – Current

    CitCom.ai (AI TEF SCC) - Digital Europe 🇪🇺 & Vinnova 🇸🇪

    Role: Project Contributor - Task 3.3: Cybersecurity, Cyber Resilience & Procurement/Governance

    Role Description: Design and validate cybersecurity controls and interoperability requirements for TEF Data Spaces and Edge/IoT pilots, focusing on connector hardening, MIM6-aligned requirements, procurement alignment, and AI/ML security.

    Keywords / impact: Data Spaces connectors, MIM6, procurement, AI/ML security, threat modeling, secure-by-design; hardened TEF pilots and procurement readiness.

    Consortium: 32 partners across 11 EU member states

    Sweden Budget: 18 M SEK

    Learn more: CitComTEF · RISE project page · Vinnova

    Learn more & contacts: Project page

  4. – Current

    Behavioral Next Generation in Wireless Networks for Cyber Security (BEiNG-WISE) [COST Action 🇪🇺]

    Role: Working Group Leader - Cybersecurity in Emerging Wireless Communications

    Role Description: Coordinate WG activities focused on security and trust in next-generation wireless (5G/6G), organising workshops, training events, and cross-disciplinary research to support standards and R&I agendas.

    Keywords / impact: 5G/6G security, physical-layer security, trust & privacy, AI-enabled defenses, standards input; built WG outputs and training for EU stakeholders.

    Consortium / Network: European research & industry network (multi-country participation)

    Funding Agency: COST Action (CA22104)

    Learn more: beingwise.eu · COST Action CA22104

  5. –

    Datadelning i en digitaliserad köttkedja [FORMAS 🇸🇪]

    Role: Project Contributor - Researcher

    Role Description: Research on sustainable data sharing and digital transformation in industrial systems, focusing on secure data governance, privacy-preserving sharing mechanisms, and analytics to support data-driven decision-making across the meat supply chain.

    Keywords / impact: Data governance, privacy-preserving sharing, secure data pipelines, interoperability, analytics; enabled secure data sharing across supply-chain partners.

    Consortium / WG: Multi‑partner Swedish consortium (industry, research, public bodies)

    Funding agency: Formas - Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development

    Budget: 11.8 M SEK

    Learn more: Project page · YouTube video

Education

Certifications & Training (selection)

Invited Talks (selection)

Media Attention

Research featured in major international outlets related to privacy, security, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Selected Publications

See also: Google Scholar

Towards Empowering Stakeholders Through Decentralized Trust and Secure Livestock Data Sharing (2025)

Authors: Abdul Ghafoor, Iraklis Symeonidis, Anna Rydberg, Cecilia Lindahl, Abdul Qadus Abbasi

Publisher: MDPI Cryptography Journal

Cryptography Journal · DOI:10.3390/cryptography9030052

Emerging Cybersecurity Paradigms in Wireless Networks: Physical Layer Innovation, Trust, and AI-Enhanced Defenses (2025)

Editors: Iraklis Symeonidis, Valeria Loscri (BEiNG-WISE WG1 White Paper)

Publisher: BEiNG-WISE (COST Action CA22104) - White Paper

Project page

Drowsiness and Fatigue Recognition Systems for Connected Vehicles, 6G and the EU AI Act (2025)

Authors: Ana Ferreira, Başak Ozan Özparlak, Hartmut Aden, Iraklis Symeonidis, Mehmet Çetin, Eirini Kanaki, Periklis Chatzimisios

Publisher: IEEE EuCNC/6G Summit

IEEE EuCNC/6G Summit DOI:10.1109/EuCNC/6GSummit63408.2025.11037012

HERMES: Scalable, Secure, and Privacy-Enhancing Vehicle Access System (2021)

Authors: Iraklis Symeonidis, Dragos Rotaru, Mustafa A. Mustafa, Bart Mennink, Bart Preneel, Panos Papadimitratos

Publisher: IEEE Internet of Things Journal

IEEE Internet of Things Journal · DOI:10.1109/JIOT.2021.3094930

Collateral damage of Facebook third-party applications: a comprehensive study (2018)

Authors: Iraklis Symeonidis, Gergely Biczók, Fatemeh Shirazi, Cristina Pérez-Solà, Jessica Schroers, Bart Preneel

Publisher: Elsevier Computers & Security

Computers & Security · DOI:10.1016/j.cose.2018.03.015

Academic and Other Services

Event organizer:

Program Committee Memberships:

External Reviews:

Teaching & Supervision

  1. – Current

    PhD Supervision

    • PhD Supervisor - S. Mohammadi, Industrial PhD Student at RISE

  2. PhD External reviewer / examiner

    • 2024: Rauli Kaksonen, "Transparent and tool-driven security assessment for sustainable IoT cybersecurity", University of Oulu, Finland
    • 2025: Liu Shuaishuai, "Interdependent Privacy: Modeling, Measurement, and Mitigation", Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
  3. –

    NSS@KTH - Teaching Assistant & MSc Thesis Supervision

    • Teaching Assistant at NSS@KTH
      • Networked Systems Security (NSS): Fundamentals of secure modern networked systems
      • Building NSS (BNSS): Implementation of secure networked systems
      • Advanced NSS (ANSS): Engineering of emerging secure networked infrastructures
    • MSc Thesis Supervision:
      • 2021–2022: A. Kotsias - “Layer 2 Smart Contracts for Secure Vehicular-Sharing Systems”
      • 2020–2021: S. Rabat - “Encrypted Documents Retrieval from the Cloud with Searchable Encryption”
      • 2021: J. Shan - “Secure Vehicular Sharing Systems Implementation”
  4. –

    COSIC@KU Leuven - MSc Thesis Supervision

    • 2019–2020: D. De Troch - “dPACE: A Decentralized Privacy-Preserving, yet Accountable Car Sharing Environment”
    • 2017–2018: A. Madhusudan - “Applying Smart Contracts to Secure Car Sharing Systems”
    • 2017–2018: D. Reardon - “Prevalence of Device Fingerprinting in Browser Extensions”
    • 2016–2017: S. Dhooghe - “Applying Multiparty Computation to Car Access Provision”
    • 2015–2016: T. Bertels - “Design of a Pairing Protocol for the AR.Drone 2.0”
    • 2015–2016: K. Domin - “Security Analysis of the Drone Communication Protocol: Fuzzing the MAVLink Protocol”
  5. –

    Educator & Instructor - Ministry of Education, Police Academy, Lifelong Learning

    • Educator & Instructor - Ministry of Education, Police Academy, Lifelong Learning
      • Web Programming: PHP, SQL, and web technologies
      • Application Development: Algorithmic logic and programming, university entrance prep
      • ICT Technologies: CS principles, mathematics, ICT-enhanced learning
      • Microsoft Office Suite: Training & certification (Police Academy & private sector)

Personal Interests

Contact