Claudiu Popa

Claudiu Popa is the founder - since 1989 - of the Informatica Group of Companies, including Datarisk Canada, OTSEC Industrial Cybersecurity and Managed Privacy Canada. He is also the co-founder of Canada's only cybersafety education foundation, KnowledgeFlow. Since 2009, the Foundation has been home to the famous UnHackable brand that empowers Canada's youth to embrace a culture of cybersafety and build a Circle of Trust within their communities. Among other innovations, he is behind the Verify Risk Assessment methodology used by businesses and government agencies across Canada.

Professionally, he is a trusted advisor to government agencies, non-profit organizations, businesses of all sizes and NGOs on matters of regulatory compliance, information security strategy and risk management. In addition to being an educator through the University of Toronto, Seneca College, Ontario Tech University, the Standards Council of Canada, provincial Law Societies and Privacy Commissioner Offices, Popa is also a certified professional who acts as an interim CISO, CPO, DPO, breach coach or board level Risk Advisor.

Personally, Popa is a family man whose four unruly children continue to amaze him by weaponizing critical thinking, making risk-based decisions (in their favour) and generally demonstrating a propensity for bypassing his home security safeguards. His wife Debra is currently the only MBA in the family and therefore significantly more qualified to managing the day-to-day operations of the KnowledgeFlow Foundation by endlessly maximizing scarce resources and collaborating with a nationwide network of amazing professionals and industry associations to push unique initiatives that continue to create hundreds of UnHackable school groups and Cybersafety Champions across Canada.

With a deeply technical background, a computer science degree and currently holding the industry's top certifications in risk, privacy, security, business continuity and leadership, he is a published author, podcaster and frequent media commentator whose insights make the national news in Canada each week. For example, he is the author of the BS (Bad Security) Blog as well as BadPrivacy.ca, where he takes pleasure in exposing the mistakes of incompetent crooks as well as the unethical practices of predatory groups. Popa has deep expertise and is engaged in the active study of diverse but related topics including education technology (edtech), financial cybersecurity (fintech), disinformation and influence operations (cyberwarfare), social engineering, personal & corporate identity theft (copyright takedowns), incident response and breach simulations (TTX), secure development (SDLC), surveillance technologies and physical security.

Popa is also an information security technologist whose primary research on cybercrime, digital literacy, cyberfraud, national security, intellectual property protection and personal information breach prevention has been published and featured extensively through hundreds of articles, books and conference talks. He is a university adjunct professor and college lecturer, having worked extensively with standards bodies, educational institutions and task forces on international standards like ISO, PCI, SOX, PbD and numerous others. All efforts are a testament to Popa's passion in support of raising the bar on data security and the protection of human rights, particularly in the age of ubiquitous cloud storage, generative AI and edge computing.

When not leading risk assessments for financial institutions, auditing the privacy of healthcare facilities or securing supply chains, he works with exceptional teams of passionate analysts at the cybersafety foundation and in law enforcement to bring digital self-defense skills and cyber-literacy to the most vulnerable sectors in Canada, including families, seniors, indigenous populations and new Canadians. This deep expertise and continuous research have led to the creation of dozens of Popa's most popular talks and professional presentations available through speaker bureaus across North America. Two of these are worth noting in particular:

Popa's annual "Cybersecurity Megatrends" corporate talk is a sweeping research report covering all aspects of the security industry, delving into such detailed metrics as sector-based losses, emerging data protection trends, compliance updates and disruptive technological innovations of keen interest to business leaders in diverse industry sectors. Popa is also known for his signature keynote named "Against the Odds: How to Gain an Unfair Advantage in Security and Turn the Tables on Phishers, Hackers and Cyber Attackers". This highly interactive presentation introduces operational security techniques and tactics - by example - to audiences at all levels, packing essential digital survival skills and cyber situational awareness into an unforgettable 45-minute experience.

Having grown up in both Eastern and Western Europe, Popa is fluent in three languages. Among some notable hobbies, he is an automotive enthusiast, model rocketeer and avid book collector. Other personal interests include physical exercise, to the point where he holds a rare accreditation as an Older Adult Fitness Specialist, training and publishing articles to large audiences of industry professionals. Unsurprisingly, he is fascinated by all things scientific, from creating impossible shapes using 3D printing to world building in virtual reality. He takes a deep personal interest in every one of the dozens of humanitarian, non-human and planetary causes that he supports, which can be found on his personal web page.

Popa is here today to share this exclusive presentation tailored exclusively to a professional audience but not requiring any technical preparation or expertise, on the emerging threats of new technology, looming risks to our sector and exciting solutions that will give us all a lot more than just a fighting chance: how to gain an unfair advantage in the war on cybercrime.