CCAbout Christiaan
Helping organisations build a secure digital society has driven my varied assignments, encouraged me to share knowledge and inspired personal projects. Described as innovative, creative, entrepreneurial, collaborative and thoughtful I combine a holistic perspective with continuous learning.
Embracing the philosophy “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” I actively listen, observe and ask fundamental questions both within my expertise and beyond to understand root challenges. The “learning by doing” methodology aligns with my approach reflecting my enthusiasm and practical mindset applying new insights to develop actionable strategies, robust policies and effective operational controls.
During my education as a Private Digital Investigator I gained hands-on experience in systematic digital forensic analysis and penetration testing. I started my career in diverse cyber security roles within the Dutch government spanning critical infrastructure protection, cybercrime prevention and e-government security before helping financial institutions enhance their maturity and strengthen their security posture.
Between roles I volunteer abroad immersing myself in new cultures and mentoring youth in life skills. After my most recent role I spent three months in Nepal renovating the Khawalung Monastery school with local monks. We transformed the school into an inspiring learning space while teaching essential life skills.
Back home I modernized my Defending.it homelab using AI for CIS Controls implementation and built a tailored compliance mapping tool.
Open to new freelance opportunities within the EU.
Dutch
Native or bilingual
English
Fluent
Can work on-site
Den Haag (up to 50km), Brussel (up to 50km), Antwerpen (up to 50km), Maastricht (up to 50km)
Experience
- Colen ConsultancyBusiness ownerApril 2015 - Today (11 years and 2 months)Den Haag, Netherlands• Consultancy assignments: BNG Bank, Rabobank, Argenta Bank, Ready4life, 't Julialaantje, TNO• Previously: data recovery service, forensic investigations, photography, Christiaan008 projects (other activities)• Currently: Defending.it
- The Green LionVolunteerEDUCATION AND E-LEARNINGDecember 2023 - April 2024 (4 months)Kathmandu, NepalGoal: helping with construction, teaching English, mathematics, social and science lessonsDescription: First culture week to understand Nepalese culture, followed by three weeks of construction at a local school and park. At Khawalung monastery I collaborated with volunteers on projects like creating student profiles by photographing the students and documenting names, designing a football t-shirt, organizing a match and repainting the school. To enhance collaboration with volunteers and teachers I helped improving structure and coached the school principal.
- BNG BankTechnical Information Security OfficerBANKING AND INSURANCEJune 2022 - October 2023 (1 year and 4 months)NetherlandsAt BNG Bank assessments revealed misalignments between practices, procedures and contracts resulting in operating outside of the risk appetite and non-compliance with ECB regulations.Using the CIS Controls framework I led structured gap analyses with different teams, presented recommendations to leadership and developed a targeted Cyber Security Roadmap.With leadership support I facilitated cross-functional teams and external suppliers in implementing high priority remediation actions while I began establishment of a dedicated SecOps and consultancy team.The result was rapid resolution of priority findings enabling BNG’s business and IT transformation strategy and positioning the bank on a trajectory toward regulatory compliance and enhanced cyber resilience.
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Education
- Forensic ICTUniversity of Applied Sciences Leiden2013A study at Wireless Leiden assessed the viability of deploying honeypots to attract hackers and gather information on potential attack vectors.
- 2011 Control Systems Cyber Security Advanced TrainingDepartment of Homeland Security2011During training I controlled the industrial control system's monitor and used IDS sensors to capture network traffic, creating a detailed OSI layer network diagram.