Manolis Sfakianakis

Lieutenant General (ret.) Manolis Sfakianakis served in the Hellenic Police for 34 years, 23 of which were dedicated to cybercrime investigations. He was also the founder of the Cybercrime Unit in Greece.

Key Information:

• His career in the Hellenic Police concluded in January 2017, during which he was the European leader and head of four European Programs titled: “Informing Citizens and the Private Sector on Payment Card Fraud,” “Increasing Public Awareness of Malware Targeting Mobile Devices.”
• He has handled over 10,000 serious cases out of a total of 28,000 related to cybercrime.
• He has participated as a keynote speaker from 2001 to the present in 1,300 national and international conferences, including INTERPOL, EUROPOL, academic institutions, and international organizations.
• He is the creator of the CyberKid and CyberAlert applications, for which he was awarded the Gold Award at the Mobility Forum & Apps Awards 2015 for the former.
• He is the founder of the CSI Institute, headquartered in Athens, which aims to educate the public on cybersecurity and to promote entrepreneurship through specialized actions.

Education:

• Studied Computer Analysis and Programming. He received training in London on Plastic Crime and from the FBI on topics related to Cyber Terrorism.
• Holds Master’s degrees in “Criminal Sciences” and “Criminology” from the Department of Law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
• He is a PhD candidate in the Department of Informatics at the University of Piraeus.

Honors:

• He has received 90 honors from:
  1. The President of the Republic.
  2. The Academy of Athens for his significant social contribution.
  3. UNICEF as “the man of children.”
  4. The FBI, three times, for cybercrime investigations, among others.

Academic Career:

• He is a professor at the University of Piraeus, the Police Academy, and the National School of Judges.

Books Authored:

1. Internet Addiction and Other Online Behaviors.
2. The Internet Code.
3. The Keys of the Internet.
4. Parents, Children, and the Internet.
5. Ben and the Tablet Trap.
6. Ben and the Magic Screen.
7. Ben and Cyberbullying.
   [The last three are a children’s book series.]

Career After 2017:

Since 2017, he has founded six companies and an institute:

1. The first company (‘GDPR Greece’) deals with GDPR compliance matters (website: gdprgreece.com).
2. The second company (‘GRISS – GReek Information Security Systems’) deals with a) cyber law, conducting private investigations and handling all related actions such as case file creation and submission to the Prosecutor with the help of specialized lawyers, and b) digital forensics, preparing expert reports for courts (website: griss.com.gr).
3. The third company (‘Mega GRISS’) focuses on cyber insurance, creating insurance programs that are sold in the insurance market, covering online purchases, e-Banking, and reputation management for businesses or individuals (website: megagriss.gr).
4. The fourth company (‘CybeX’) focuses on Cyber Security, aiming to shield companies’ computing systems (website: cyberx.gr).
5. The fifth company (‘The Crime Lab’) operates globally, investigating all forms of crime. Its uniqueness lies in incorporating 15 laboratories that conduct research on criminal behaviors such as DNA, ballistics, graphology, forensic medicine, toxicology, digital forensics, and money laundering, among others. The aim is to allow any legal or natural person from anywhere in the world to connect to the lab’s system and find the appropriate actions to solve their case. The case is then analyzed criminologically by specialized professionals who guide the procedures to the relevant experts for the issuance of expert reports, which are then submitted to the courts for trial.
6. The sixth company (‘Yum Guiltfree’) produces healthy sweets without sugar. Due to its innovative products that do not contain processed sugar, eggs, gluten, or dairy, the company is growing rapidly, distributing to supermarkets and delicatessen stores, and has its own store (website: yum-guiltfree.com).
7. Lastly, the Institute (‘CSIi – Cyber Security International Institute’) is non-profit and focuses on informing parents, children, and entrepreneurs about the dangers of the internet through seminars in schools, municipalities, and businesses. It has also established two academies: the ‘Parents’ Academy’ and the ‘Student Academy’. The institute participates in various European programs focusing on cybersecurity (website: csii.gr).