Kristian Beckman Award

The committee for the 2014 IFIP TC-11 Kristian Beckman Award has decided to confer the award on Professor emerita Louise Yngström.

This award is granted annually to a successful nominee and is presented at the annual IFIP Security Conference that is organised under the auspices of TC-11.

SU/DSV web in Swedish.

annual meeting

The Annual Meeting will take place

Tuesday 23 September 2014 17.30 at
Nodhuset, Borgarfjordsgatan 12, Kista

If you'd like to attend,
kindly notify us at info at saisec.se

meet the board: Per Strömsjö

Let's meet another member of the SAISec Board!

What's your name?
Per Strömsjö


What's your job?
Information Risk Specialist with SEB IT Service

How did you get involved in Information Security?
Once upon a time, I worked as a systems programmer within the defense electronics sector. Needless to say, security is pretty high on the agenda in such an environment.

What aspect of InfoSec do you find most interesting/challenging?
People and processes. I'm more interested in motivating people to keep a system in good shape, than focusing on trying to "get everything right" once and for all in a construction phase.

Any aspect of InfoSec which is being hyped or overrated?
Products, products and products. "Install this and be secure!"

Do you have a favorite InfoSec author/expert/commentator whom you would recommend others to read?
Gary McGraw, (@cigitalgem, CTO of Cigital) is a constant source of inspiration.

Do you see other fields of research which could be important for InfoSec?
Sociology and psychology. People can be the strongest link!

What role do you think an alumni association like SAISec should play?
Be a link between industry and academia. 

How can students and alumns get involved in SAISec?
Get in touch. Suggest lectures, demos or other activities. Help organize them and spread the word.

What inspires you (except for InfoSec of course)?
Coaching and mentoring. Bi-directional learning at its best!

meet The Board: Fredrik Björck

Let's meet a member of the SAISec Board!

What's your name?

Fredrik Björck

What's your job?

Associate Professor of Computer and Systems Sciences (Universitetslektor, Information Security)

How did you get involved in Information Security?

I have always had an interest in how things work around me, and quickly understood that InfoSec was going to be the difference between war and peace, dictatorship and democracy, food or hunger, integrity or surveillance. Therefore, I decided to dedicate my professional life to information security. Formally my career in information security started in 1995 with a thesis on "electronic payment systems for global networks", and I was later admitted to a masters programme in information systems security at the London School of Economics (LSE).

What aspect of InfoSec do you find most interesting/challenging?

Human behavior and security.

Any aspect of InfoSec which is being hyped or overrated?

Sometimes we tend to exaggerate the threats. It is not about hyping, but sometimes we need to explain better and scare people less.

Do you have a favorite InfoSec author/expert/commentator whom you would recommend others to read?

No, but www.informationssakerhet.se is a good source for information.

Do you see other fields of research which could be important for InfoSec?

Internet of Things, Data Mining, eDiscovery, Institutional Theory

What role do you think an alumni association like SAISec should play?

Tie together different types of actors in the field.

How can students and alumns get involved in SAISec?

In whichever way they like.

What inspires you (except for InfoSec of course)?

My daughters, good ideas and fast cars.

Thanks, Fredrik!

thesis within IT Forensics

Students Isabella Hellman and Johan Ångström are busy writing a thesis about terminology within IT Forensics and kindly offered the SAISec blog an interview.


Tell us a little about yourselves!

We're both studying our 3rd year in Computer and Systems Science at Stockholm University. 

What is your thesis about and why did you pick this subject?

We are trying to produce a standardization of Swedish terminology within IT Forensics. We did propose a different InfoSec subject at first, but our supervisor was already involved in producing a book about standardization. We thought this was a really exciting subject, so without hesitation we picked this one instead. 

Any finding you can share with us already...?

Right now we have produced 20 terms that are more or less ready to be published but we will send this as a referral to two people in the IT Forensics department at Rikskriminalpolisen (National Criminal Investigation Department). We interviewed them, and since we want to assure the quality of translations and definitions, we will send this to knowledgeable people who can offer their feedback.

Why did you choose to focus on the field of Information Security?

We think this area is exciting and is one that constantly needs to be updated. When our supervisor proposed this idea to us, we saw the chance to make an important scientific contribution that will be used by people who work in this area, and that was very important to us.

Any advice to students who consider studying InfoSec?

The most important is to have an interest in InfoSec. You will learn the technical skills during the process, and not everything is highly technical. Dare to do it, if you’re interested!

Many thanks, and good luck to Isabella and Johan!