Firewall Experts in Stuttgart

Situation: Increasing demand for privacy-compliant AI solutions for clients in the KRITIS and mid-market sector that need to analyze sensitive media content (audio, video, documents) without sending data to public cloud LLMs.

Task: Design, deployment, and secure operation of a fully self-hosted AI infrastructure including a custom-built digital management platform for automated media analysis.

Action: Architected and implemented a multi-tier platform on hardened Proxmox infrastructure with frontend (Nuxt 3, Vue 3, TypeScript, Tailwind 4), backend (Laravel 13, PHP 8.4, Sanctum), data storage (PostgreSQL 16, MongoDB 7), caching/queuing (Redis 7, Laravel Queue), AI workers (Python 3.11, Whisper, DeepFace, Librosa), scheduling (Laravel Scheduler/Cron), and local LLMs (Gemma, DeepSeek, Qwen, Mistral, LLaMA, Phi) via OpenWebUI with segmented network access, API hardening, and audit logging following BSI recommendations.

Result: Fully GDPR-compliant, on-premises AI platform with zero data leakage to third parties.

Task: Overall responsibility as an external Head of Cyber Security / CISO-as-a-Service for the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of ISMS according to ISO 27001, BSI IT-Grundschutz, and NIS2.

Action: Built and managed Cyber Defense Centers (CDC) with SOC operations, integrated SIEM solutions (Splunk, Graylog), established risk-based vulnerability management (Qualys, Nessus, OpenVAS), and conducted regular infrastructure, application, and physical penetration tests.

Result: Audit-ready ISMS for multiple clients and a 60% reduction in critical vulnerabilities within 90 days.

Task: Design and execution of NIS2 assessments and operational roll-out plans for KRITIS operators.

Action: Developed an online assessment tool for automated identification of individual weakness profiles, implemented ISMS optimizations, penetration testing, awareness programs, GRC suite deployment, and delivered C-level presentations.

Result: Accelerated the consulting process by 50% and successfully prepared multiple clients for NIS2 compliance.

Task: Incident commander for crisis response, forensics, and business recovery in ransomware attacks and APT campaigns.

Action: Coordinated with state and federal police (LKA, BKA), performed forensic analysis (OSForensics, Wireshark, Kali Linux), executed disaster recovery and BCM strategies, and developed BTC extortion response strategies.

Result: 100% recovery rate within defined RTO windows and sustainable post-incident security architectures.

Action: Planned, built, and operated a hardened multi-VM infrastructure (Proxmox, 15+ VMs) with web and mail servers, Graylog, OPNsense firewalls, CRM/ERP and LLM instances, network segmentation, DDoS mitigation, automated patch management, and backup strategies.

Result: >99.5% uptime over 20+ years and zero compromises.

Action: Designed coordinated phishing campaigns with five levels of difficulty, developed e-trainings and webinars in a PDCA cycle, and led red and blue teams.

Result: Phishing click rate reduced from 35% to under 5% within three campaign cycles.

Implementation of Rittal MDC’s hybrid data center (on-premises, Azure and local)

Implementation of backup solution (Azure, Azure local, M365 and Entra ID) with Rubrik

Application migration and optimization

Client management (Intune) with Microsoft 365, Office 365 (Exchange Online, OneDrive, MS Teams, SharePoint Online)

WAN migration and network optimization including Cisco Umbrella, network segmentation and microsegmentation in IT and OT areas

Implementation of comprehensive WLAN

Active Directory, Azure AD and Azure tiering model

Security optimization (NIST, SoSafe, BitSight, SecureScoreCard)

IT Service Management implementation (ITIL, workflows, ticket system, SIEM and SOC monitoring)

Strategy consulting and reporting to CIO

Tendering and selection of service providers for various managed services

Maintaining operations for IT infrastructure security topics

Creation, updating and monitoring of project plan/progress, business case and PMO

Planning and managing work packages, costs, resources, risks, quality, communication and configuration management

Stakeholder analysis, HR and procurement management

Holistic view of data security and privacy (IT baseline protection, GDPR)

Monitoring, reporting and compliance with project management processes and standards

Review and adjustment of IT service contracts based on customer requirements

Management of new and existing IT service providers

Solution design / requirements management