KRITIS Experts

• Strategic planning, detailed technical preparation and operational management of an email gateway migration in a security-critical government environment.
• Preparation of the technical specification and development of technical concepts and migration approaches in line with BSI requirements.
• Technical requirements management with business units, information security and operations.
• Coordination of external service providers, integrators and implementation partners; maintenance of project plans, milestones, resources, risks and dependencies.
• Regular reporting to project management, the program environment and internal stakeholders.

• Requirements management, process planning, interface function, ISMS setup, and documentation
• Setup and establishment of an ISMS according to ISO 27001 and establishment of emergency management / ITSCM
• Coordination of the circumstances with the public-sector IT service provider
• Consideration of KRITIS relevance within the scope and implementation of a B3S
• Development of requirements for document control and the continuous improvement process
• Preparation of relevant project documents
• Analysis of existing processes and preparation of guidelines
• Requirements gathering for ISMS and ITSCM and coordination with the IT service provider, including definition of interfaces
• Analysis of communication processes and escalation paths
• Review of documents for risk management, ISMS, emergency preparedness, and emergency response
• Redesign of the complete documentation and preparation of new relevant documents
• Development of necessary rules, policies, and concepts
• Interface between customer and service provider to ensure document quality
• Coordination of protection needs with specialist departments, particularly regarding KRITIS relevance, and planning of resulting measures
• Development of preventive measures to minimize the risk of data center outages in scenarios such as pandemics or ransomware attacks
• Definition of the test strategy for IT emergency exercises
• Initiation of necessary awareness training measures for specialist departments
• External Information Security Officer
• Introduction of document control

• Built a scalable nearshore IT developer hub (Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland) as an independent company through a BOT model (Build – Operate – Transfer)
• Identified, selected, and managed full-service agencies; introduced management and control mechanisms, including KPIs, SLAs, and regular service reviews
• Prepared and reviewed data processing agreements and framework contracts in coordination with Legal & Compliance; integrated regulatory requirements (including KRITIS) into process design
• Advised on cloud vs. on-premise strategies, data storage, and authorization concepts; supported Procurement with tendering and service provider evaluations
• Managed change and process harmonization between internal teams and nearshore partners; reported to executive management, CFO, and CIO

Result: Scalable IT developer hub with an audit-ready governance model, reduced operating costs, and accelerated product development.

• Completed the integration of log sources into Microsoft Sentinel, including GCP workloads – centralized consolidation of all security-relevant events from Azure and GCP environments for complete end-to-end telemetry and comprehensive compliance evidence
• Developed custom rules and use cases based on the GFG Use-Case Library and the MITRE ATT&CK Matrix to cover company-specific threats and GFG-relevant scenarios with precise, mapped detection rules
• Tuned detection rules to minimize false positives, optimized detection thresholds, and modeled exceptions – enabling the SOC to work with relevant, prioritized alerts while reducing Mean Time to Detect/Respond
• Built SOAR capabilities in Sentinel by developing playbooks to automate recurring response processes such as containment, user and host isolation, and ticketing – shorter response times and 24/7 scalability
• Designed and built a log transformation solution to normalize and enrich incoming raw logs (GeoIP, CMDB, threat intelligence) and convert them into a consistent schema for high-performance KQL queries, use case logic, and correlations
• Managed Azure security through Azure Policies to enforce security and compliance standards, prevent drift, and continuously remediate deviations
• Operated the Defender XDR portal to link endpoint, identity, email, and SaaS signals with Sentinel findings, enable holistic incident triage, and orchestrate measures directly from XDR

Technologies: Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender XDR, Azure Policy, KQL, GCP, MITRE ATT&CK

• Development and implementation of tailored information security strategies

• Introduction and further development of ISMS according to ISO 27001, BSI baseline protection, and other standards

• Risk management and creation of security concepts

• Consulting for KRITIS, PCI DSS, TISAX, and VdS 3473/10000

• Building and improving security organizations

• Creation and implementation of guidelines, policies, work instructions, and process descriptions

• Audit support and certification preparation

• Conducting trainings, workshops, and awareness campaigns

• Selection and consulting on the introduction of IT security solutions such as SIEM, DLP, IDS/IPS, firewalls, and encryption technologies

• Conducting penetration tests and vulnerability analyses

• Consulting on the selection, integration, and management of security architectures in complex IT environments

• Consulting on ITSM and managed security services and SOC

• Leading and managing complex projects to improve information security

• Process analysis, optimization, and management according to ITIL, ISO 27001, and cybernetics

• Introduction and quality assurance of management, documentation, and knowledge management systems

• Support in complying with regulatory information security requirements (e.g. GDPR, HIPAA, SOX, GMP, KRITIS)

• Development and implementation of risk analysis procedures

• Organizing initial response, forensic investigations, and organizational measures in the event of security incidents

• Designing and running targeted workshops on topics such as ISMS, IT risks, and current threat scenarios

• Awareness campaigns to promote security culture in companies

• Special trainings on ISO 27001, BSI baseline protection, KRITIS, and other relevant standards

• Simulations and exercises to prepare for information security incidents

• Interim management for leading information security projects or IT security organizations

• Taking on the role of an external CISO (Chief Information Security Officer)

• Support in developing and implementing IT security and corporate strategies

• Coaching and mentoring of managers in the field of information security

• Building and leading security departments as well as recruiting and qualifying employees

• Temporary assumption of management responsibility in critical situations

• Industry: mechanical engineering, vehicle manufacturing
• Regulations: Data Act
• Project focus: data governance, legally compliant use of machine data, data platforms
• Assigned by: CFO, platform product owner

Successes/Results (early phase):

• Compliance support for the setup of an internal standardized data usage platform based on Databricks.
• Created the basis for the legally compliant and effective use of machine data, including:
• Technical: gap analysis and closing of gaps in the segmentation and maintenance of collected machine data.
• Technical: consideration of data flows from the platform to users and third parties.
• Organizational: drafting and finalizing the required data usage agreements.

• Managed (Scrum / Agile) and monitored IT projects, including project controlling, service provider management, reporting, risk management and coordination of all stakeholders
• Planned and supported the go-live and hypercare phase
• Captured, assessed and prioritized requirements for demand-oriented planning and management of IT resources
• Supported the introduction of the CRIF provider for real-time decision-making in sales, fraud prevention, sanctions list screening and scalable payment processes
• Prepared status reports and decision papers for the executive board
• Planned and managed IT projects for the implementation, optimization or migration of e-commerce systems (e.g. shop systems, payment integration, order to cash)
• Coordinated interdisciplinary teams from development, UX/UI, marketing and logistics to deliver project objectives on time
• Analyzed requirements and prepared technical specifications in close coordination with stakeholders and external service providers
• Ensured the quality, performance and security of e-commerce platforms through testing, monitoring and continuous optimization
• Organized meetings with stakeholders, e.g. Demand Thinking, Warm-Up, Impact Board and program planning
• Managed and prioritized demands as well as DMP controlling and communication of results from the Impact Board and KPI analysis

KEY PROJECTS

Since 05/2023 | Bank | Senior Cyber Security Consultant (external)

• Advising and guiding the system owners in creating and further developing IT security concepts
• Coordinating and tracking the remediation of findings from reviews and audits
• Advising on the implementation of regulatory requirements for information security

10/2023 – 02/2024 | Fintech | Project Manager (external)

• Project management to close various audit gaps in the field of information security
• Conceptual design and implementation of an information security management system based on ISO/IEC 27001
• Creation and further development of ISMS documents and processes

• Integration of highly regulated countries such as China and South Korea into a company-wide M365 tenant.

• Technical contact for integrating special requirements for the executive board and German subsidiaries that are subject to BaFin compliance requirements.

• Subproject management.

• Coordination of requirements within the overall architecture.

• Design of the use of DLP features from Microsoft Purview.

• Design of special access restrictions via Entra ID Conditional Access.

• Support in designing the provisioning of Teams teams and SharePoint sites with higher compliance requirements.

• Technical support for implementing information classification with sensitivity labels for SharePoint Online and Teams.

• Technical support for the subproject introducing CoPilot for M365.

• Skills: M365, Purview, DLP, Entra ID, Sensitivity Labels, CoPilot, Teams, SharePoint Online.

Strategic consulting for the development and strengthening of ISMS structures (ISO 27001 / BSI IT-Grundschutz), including onboarding, gap analyses, and preparation of the IT organization for DORA requirements (ICT third-party risk) and NIS2 compliance. Auditing compliance requirements in a regulated environment.

• Customer portal – further development and release change

Technologies / Tools: Clarity, Microsoft 365 / MS Office (especially Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Teams), SharePoint, Helaba internal AI environment

• Team size: 32 people
• Approach: traditional project management
• Planning and management of updates to the customer portal of the Wirtschafts- und Infrastrukturbank Hessen to the current vendor release
• Coordination of implementation in close cooperation with the vendor, portal operator, line organization, and other stakeholders involved
• Set-up of new test environments for migration and acceptance testing
• Planning of migrations and the required test stages and test procedures
• Preparation of the go-live script as well as planning and coordination of the cutover, hypercare, and subsequent stabilization phase
• Planning the expansion of the portal to include electronic identification
• Management, monitoring, and continuous adjustment of project planning
• Coordination of development, testing, release preparation, and go-live
• Planning and moderation of regular project and coordination meetings
• Management reporting on project progress, risks, and required actions
• Regular use of the Helaba internal AI environment to verify and ensure the quality of work results and project documents

• Responsible for infrastructure, operations, network and VoIP, security, quality assurance, as well as asset management and business continuity
• Planning and implementation of all requirements related to NIS 2.0
• Responsible for application development
• Company-wide implementation of SAP S/4Hana and leading development of new business processes, incl. cut-over planning
• Digital transformation and cultural transformation toward a "doer mentality"
• Realignment of infrastructure (hybrid)
• Restructuring of the organization with partial outsourcing
• Management of four direct reports with a total of 25 internal and external employees
• Budget responsibility of up to €25 million

Unified ITSM framework

• Definition of a company-wide ITSM target picture
• Introduction of a uniform service structure across all business units

SLA and OLA management

• Building a standardized SLA framework
• Definition of service classes (Business Critical, Standard, Low Priority)
• Introduction of OLAs between internal teams
• Building meaningful SLA reporting
• Definition of KPI and service dashboards for business units

Service portfolio management

• Definition of service descriptions
• If needed, preparing possible cost and service billing

Ticketing & processes

• Incident management
• Uniform ticket categories
• Standardized prioritization
• Escalation matrix
• Automations
• Self-service optimization

Request fulfillment

• Service catalog across all business units
• Approval workflows

Problem management

• Introduction of root cause analysis
• Known error database
• Problem review process

Complete asset management concept

• Hardware lifecycle management
• Software lifecycle management
• Leasing lifecycle
• Mobile device lifecycle
• Monitor lifecycle
• Phone lifecycle

Processes

• Procurement
• Goods receipt
• Inventory
• Assignment
• Return
• Disposal
• Leasing return Goal: single source of truth for all assets

CMDB design

• Definition of all configuration items:
• Workplace
• Notebooks
• Monitors
• Mobile phones
• Printers

Infrastructure

• Servers
• Firewalls
• Switches
• WLAN
• Storage
• Backup systems

Cloud

• Azure resources
• Microsoft 365
• SaaS services

Relationships

• User ↔ Asset
• Asset ↔ Service
• Service ↔ Infrastructure
• Location ↔ Asset
• Goal: make all service dependencies visible

Software asset & license management

• License management concept
• License balancing
• Compliance reporting
• Microsoft license management
• Adobe license management
• SaaS management
• Contract management
• Renewal management

Interfaces & automation Existing systems

• Workday
• Joiner
• Mover
• Leaver

TESMA

• Leasing data
• Contract data

Matrix42

• Asset synchronization
• User synchronization

Active Directory / Entra ID

• User management

Microsoft 365

• License assignment
• Group management

Dormakaba

• Access processes

• Lifecycle services

Monitoring platforms

• PRTG
• Palo Alto
• Cisco

Reporting & KPI framework

• Definition of a management dashboard
• KPIs
• Ticket volume
• SLA fulfillment
• MTTR
• First resolution rate
• Asset accuracy
• License compliance
• Change success rate
• Service availability
• Degree of automation

Network redesign support

• Governance
• Support of the network redesign from an ITSM point of view
• Definition of affected services
• Change management structure
• Communication concept

CMDB integration

• Recording of all network components
• Service mapping
• Dependency analysis

Validation of documentation and knowledge base articles

• Network documentation
• Operations documentation
• Standard changes

Monitoring & event management

• Target picture
• Central monitoring concept
• Event management process
• Alerting strategy
• Escalation model

Systems

• Cisco

• Palo Alto

• Fortinet

• Rubrik

• Veeam

• Matrix42

• Azure

• Microsoft 365 Automation

• Ticket creation from monitoring

• Escalations

• Standard actions

Audit, compliance & information security

• ISO 27001 consulting
• TISAX consulting
• NIS2 preparation - consulting
• Audit-ready processes
• Documentation structure
• Evidence tracking in Matrix42

Roadmap

• 12-month roadmap
• Prioritization of all measures
• Quick wins
• Medium-term projects
• Long-term target picture
• Documentation

• Creation of complete bilingual (DE/EN) security and emergency documentation: Business Continuity Plan / Disaster Recovery Plan, Incident Response Plan v2.0 with four case-specific playbooks (PICERL), Access Control Policy, Vulnerability Management Policy, Business Resilience Programme, Risk Governance Plan
• Consolidation into an integrated emergency manual (12 chapters) with immediate-action checklists for six emergency scenarios, a prioritized action table and a formal approval structure
• Review and documentation of the applicability of NIS2 and HinSchG, including the legal justification for non-applicability