Cybersecurity | Privacy | Safety | Espionage
Brenno de Winter is an expert in the field of ICT, security, and privacy and was elected 'journalist of the year' in 2011.
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Brenno de Winter is a highly sought-after speaker, moderator, and strategic advisor at the intersection of information security, digitalization, governance, and organizational culture. He combines his deep expertise with high energy and infectious enthusiasm, making complex themes accessible, relevant, and directly applicable for executives, professionals, and policymakers. It was precisely this talent that led to his election as Journalist of the Year 2011.
With over three decades of experience in the public and private sectors, Brenno knows better than anyone how digital risks, legislation, and technology relate to managerial responsibility and human behavior. He does not speak about IT, but about leadership in a digital reality. This makes him particularly suitable for boards, supervisors, and organizations facing strategic choices around security, sovereignty, and resilience.
As a speaker, Brenno is known for his clear structure, sharp analysis, and practical examples. He connects current incidents, regulations (such as ISO 27001, NIS2, and GDPR), and organizational issues with broader themes like culture, decision-making, and responsibility. He frequently uses analogies from aviation and safety. These disciplines focus on structure, training, and human factors, which he applies in his daily work.
In addition to his work as a speaker, Brenno is the author of the book Fundamentals of Information Security, initiator of multiple open-source and social projects, and actively involved in policy development and knowledge advancement at the national level. This combination of substantive depth and practical experience lends authority and credibility to his contributions.
With current experience in information security, programming, developing creative games for learning, and his experience flying an aircraft, his knowledge is relevant and easily understandable.
As a moderator, Brenno brings pace, overview, and connection. He asks sharp questions, maintains the main thread, and ensures that participants truly engage in conversation with each other. With humor where possible and seriousness where necessary, he creates a safe, energetic setting in which content comes into its own.
Characteristic of Brenno
• High in energy and involvement
• Expert and substantively strong
• Driven and passionate
• Professional, accessible, and sharp
• Always focused on learning, improving, and progress
Brenno de Winter is the right choice for organizations that want to look beyond technology – and are seeking direction, interpretation, and inspiration in a digital world.
Cybersecurity is essentially the organisation of trust in a digital environment. It is not only about preventing incidents but about structurally managing risks that arise from digitalisation, chain dependencies, and human actions. In his contributions, Brenno emphasises the governance dimension of cybersecurity: choices about security are always also choices about continuity, responsibility, and societal impact.
Digital sovereignty touches on the question of who truly has control over data, systems, and infrastructure. Brenno shows how technological dependencies gradually arise and how they can limit strategic room for manoeuvre. Sovereignty is not an absolute state but a continuous process of weighing, organising, and adjusting at the governance level.
Regulation around digitalisation and security is often perceived as complex and obstructive. Brenno places regulation in a broader context and shows how laws and standards help to sharply define responsibilities, make expectations explicit, and structure the conversation between governance, management, and execution. Good regulation supports professional conduct rather than stifling it.
Privacy is about more than complying with rules; it touches on trust, autonomy, and human dignity. Brenno makes it clear how privacy protection has become a strategic theme in organisations that work data-driven. He connects legal frameworks with organisational and ethical choices and shows how privacy can function as a quality benchmark for careful digitalisation.
Ethical hacking reveals how vulnerable digital systems and organisations truly are. As the spiritual father of both OpenKAT and the MIAUW methodology for conducting penetration tests, Brenno has a solid substantive foundation in the field. In his stories, it is not only about technical vulnerabilities but especially about the underlying causes: assumptions, processes, and governance choices that enable or even increase risks.
Big data offers organisations new possibilities to recognise patterns and steer better, but at the same time increases the risk of overestimation and tunnel vision. Brenno discusses big data from a governance perspective and shows how data-driven work requires explicit choices about interpretation, responsibility, and control. Not everything that is measurable is automatically meaningful.
Artificial intelligence shifts the boundaries of decision-making and responsibility. Brenno shows how AI systems influence organisations, citizens, and public values. He emphasises the importance of transparency, explainability, and human oversight. The core question is not what AI can technically do, but how organisations responsibly handle the power that this technology brings.
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Having investigated more than 2,000 data breaches, Brenno de Winter is an expert in the field of Cyber Crime & Cyber Security, Hacking and Privacy. This ICT specialist is more than happy to tell you all about it!
Thanks to his extensive experience in the computer world, Brenno de Winter speaks fluent English. That is why you can book Brenno de Winter at Speakers Academy as a chairperson and/or speaker in both Dutch and English!
Absolutely. Brenno has written several books about technology. ‘De Rode Hack’ and ‘Digitale Stormvloed’ are well-known examples.
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