Our Core Team
Christos Xenakis
TEAM CAPTAIN
Prof. Christos Xenakis is a faculty member of the Department of Digital Systems of the University of Piraeus, Greece, and a member of the Systems Security Laboratory. He is also a steering committee member of the European Cyber Security Challenge (ECSC) and the leader of the Hellenic Cyber Security Team. He is a member of the editorial board of four Thomson Reuters indexed journals: a) Computers & Security Journal of the Elsevier publishing, b) Computer Communications Journal of the Elsevier publishing, c) IET Information Security of the Institute of Engineering and Technology and d) The Computer Journal of the Oxford University Press. His research interests are in the field of systems, networks and applications security. He has authored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences.
Apostolis Zarras
TEAM VICE CAPTAIN
Dr. Apostolis Zarras is a research associate at the University of Piraeus and the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas. Previously, he was a faculty member at the Delft University of Technology and Maastricht University and, before that, a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Munich. He received his Ph.D. degree in IT Security from the Ruhr-University Bochum. He also holds a M.Sc. and a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the University of Crete. His research interests primarily revolve around systems, networks, and web security. Overall, his work is dedicated to advancing the field of Cybersecurity and safeguarding users and systems against potential cyber threats.
Stella Tsitsoula
Communications & Sponsorship manager
Stella Tsitsoula is a communications consultant specialized in the technology and cyber security industry. She works with multinational organizations, Greek businesses and universities, communicating emerging technologies, cyber security awareness, risks and strategy development.
Since 2017 she is the communication manager of the National Cyber Security Team participating in the Pan-European Cyber Security Competition organized by the European Cyber Security Agency ENISA and a member of the organizing committee.
Since 2020, she has been a member of the Cyber Security Forum Initiative (CSFI), a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, whose mission is to raise awareness and guide the general public on cyber security issues through partnerships and training.
Stella is also a co-founder of the Greek Chapter of the European non-profit organization Women4Cyber a women’s cybersecurity community (an initiative of European Cybersecurity Organization –ECSO).
In 2023 she founded the Hellenic Institute of Cybersecurity, a civil non-profit company with the purpose of supporting, highlighting, promoting high-tech issues and issues related to the security of digital information and digital information systems, in physical facilities and on the internet.
Stella participates in numerous conferences as a public speaker, advocating important initiatives and actions for cybersecurity awareness in the society.
Stella has a background in journalism, having worked for some of the largest Greek ICT publications. For more than 25 years she has held senior management positions with extensive experience in the media and communications industry. She has a degree in Computer Systems Engineering; a Master’s in Public Relations Management, is studying in an MBA program and is a Certified Lead Auditor ISO 9001:2015.
Athanasios Grammatopoulos
SCIENTIFIC manager
Athanasios Vasileios Grammatopoulos is a Cybersecurity Researcher. His research focuses on the fields of Cybersecurity Training, Vulnerabilities Detection and Secure Password-less Authentication. He received his second MSc from the Digital Systems Dept. of University of Piraeus on Digital Systems Security. He received his Electrical and Computer Engineering Diploma and MSc at the Technical University of Crete.
Katerina Psychogyiou
Support team
Associate Research Assistant in the System Security Laboratory of the University of Piraeus. Katerina holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Digital Systems Security from the Department of Digital Systems at the University of Piraeus. Currently, she actively participates in various university research projects and specialises in Project Management.