Vedran Turkalj was born in Zagreb, where he finished elementary and high school, as well as the Higher technical school in Zagreb in 1997. (electrical engineer, electronics). He graduated in 2009. with a specialist diploma in Informatics (Master of Information Technology) at Polytechnic of Zagreb (Zagreb University of Applied Sciences). At Cisco Networking Academy, he completed CCNA and CCNP trainings for a total of 8 semesters, followed by CCNA Security and Cyber Ops (also certified all these programs) and also became Cisco Network Academy Certified Instructor for CCNA Security and Cyber Ops. He also completed training in implementing GDPR in business operations, and has been certified and worked as a Certified Data Protection Officer (CDPO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO / CSO) at the University Computing Center – Srce, in which he had been working for the past 15 years; before that he had been working as communications infrastructure manager and was led medium and large projects at same company. Since last year, he has been working as an ICT Architect at Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d. in the Enterprise IT Security team, which takes care of the overall security of the company’s information system and integration of solutions with global Ericsson. Since 2010., he has been participating in teaching at the Polytechnic of Zagreb, as a laboratory assistant, assistant and lecturer, holding lectures and laboratory exercises at several courses at Specialist and Graduate Study Programs in Information Technology or Computing, and also recently at the Specialist Graduate Professional Study program of Information Security and Digital Forensics. Since 2011. he has been also working as a certified instructor at Cisco NetAcademy.
Vedran primarily deals with the design of secure information systems and security of computer networks and has published an expert paper in the field as author and co-author. He has advanced knowledge and experience in working with multi-vendor networking equipment, using network security tools, vulnerability scanning, pen testing and more, advanced knowledge of information engineering methodologies, service-oriented architecture, experience in using and developing network services, and application of cryptography in information systems. He also has experience in administering computer networks and services, computer hardware maintenance as well as active English language skills in speech and writing and many years of teaching instructor experience (with several awards including Global Expert Level Instructor) with good presentation skills, organizational skills in leading teams of different sizes, managing projects and communication skills in teamwork.