Students from the UDG, the University of Girona, interviewed us this week. Here are our answers:

What does your work consist of?

I am the founding partner and CEO of onBRANDING, CELEBRANDSEC.

I coordinate a team of 20 people, both remotely and in person when required. We are a multidisciplinary team, ranging from criminal psychologists, data analysts, and content generators to linguistic forensics, communicators, private detectives, hackers, computer forensics experts, and police officers in secondary activity, retired, or on leave…

We handle many types of cases, from reputational crises and online attacks on celebrities to digital identity theft, impersonation, scams, harassment…

I am also a judicial expert specialized in digital identity and online reputation forensics. The cases I handle always involve demonstrating and calculating reputational loss or identity attacks with legal consequences.

I am a professor at several business schools and at the police academy (ISPC) in the subjects of cybersecurity and digital identity protection. I have also taught other Spanish police forces and international bodies in countries such as Portugal, Brazil, and Israel.

How would you define cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is a very broad field, but the key is to see which approach you like best.

My field of expertise is the protection of the digital identity of companies and individuals. From executives to celebrities, including IBEX 35 companies, SMEs, and private citizens. And what I enjoy most, by far, are the complicated challenges: people with protected identities, such as witnesses protected by the prosecution or victims of any type of violence.

My focus is heavily centered on the corporate, judicial, and law enforcement sectors.

We provide security audit and forensic analysis services. That part is also necessary and completely useful in our day-to-day operations, but it is something that is always seen as a complement rather than the core business.

The day-to-day involves seeing cases of

What does your work consist of?

I am the founding partner and CEO of onBRANDING, CELEBRANDSEC.

Here I coordinate a team of 20 people remotely; a multidisciplinary team including criminal psychologists, data analysts, content generators, forensic linguists, private detectives, hackers, and police officers in secondary activity…

We handle many types of cases, from reputational crises and online attacks on celebrities to digital identity theft, impersonation, scams, harassment…

I am also a judicial expert in Spain, specialized in digital identity and online reputation forensics. The cases I handle always involve demonstrating and calculating reputational loss or identity attacks with legal consequences.

I am a professor at the police academy (ISPC) in the subjects of cybersecurity, cyber-investigation, and digital identity protection. I also teach other Spanish police forces and international bodies in countries such as Portugal, Brazil, or Israel.

How would you define cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is a very broad field, but the key is to see which approach you like best.

My field of expertise is cyber-intelligence, and from there, the protection of the digital identity of companies and individuals. From executives to celebrities, including IBEX 35 companies, SMEs, and private citizens. And what I enjoy most, by far, are the complicated challenges: people with protected identities, such as witnesses protected by the prosecution or victims of any type of violence.

My focus is on social engineering and pure cyber-investigation, heavily centered on the corporate, judicial, and law enforcement sectors.

We provide security audit and forensic analysis services. That part is also necessary and completely useful in our day-to-day operations.

My day-to-day involves seeing cases of sextortion, ransomware, and very nasty attacks on celebrities in digital distress due to harassment or death threats, so it is absolutely transversal. Reputational, legal, technical, and psychological.

How is it applied in general?

I cannot imagine my social, professional, family, and personal daily life without taking cybersecurity into account. We are already in the century of information security; the paradigm changed 15 years ago, but we have only been seeing the changes for the last 6-9 years, and the total surge has occurred in the last 3. With the lockdown, we are seeing a real spike in very nasty cases. Cybercriminals have been having a field day for the past 2 months.

How do you use it in your work?

It is almost like thinking about how to use the internet or a smartphone; you don’t think about it anymore, it is 100% integrated. It is inconceivable to live without taking all protection measures into account—with clients, suppliers, management tools, devices, connections, and our daily behavior.

What type of companies hire you and for what type of work?

I cannot provide any specific details, so I will answer globally to provide a conceptual overview. From multinationals to SMEs, including freelancers, celebrities, public institutions, and private individuals. Any person or organization that needs to protect and defend their digital identity, whether they have been previously attacked or not.

How do you relate cybersecurity and marketing/advertising in your company?

They go completely hand in hand; they are very complementary, but we are still at odds. Many companies and independent professionals are using marketing and advertising tools with a staggering naivety that violates user privacy, their own security, and that of their clients. The reason is that the objectives are different: the marketing person’s goal is to become known; the goal in our sector is to do so safely, and often, to stay hidden.

The moment will come when they will be integrated, but it will have to come after many previous setbacks and the resulting laws and fines.

Do you have direct competition in your sector?

No, there are companies that perform some of our services but they are scattered; there isn’t one that integrates everything as such. This, combined with the fact that we have been working as sleeper cells for 13 years, gives us a lot of flexibility, a great capacity for adaptation, high standards, and a permanent (passive and active) search for talent.

Why is there a number for emergency calls on the onbranding.es website?

Unfortunately, the police cannot cover everything, nor is it their responsibility to follow up post-incident. Whether they are past, current, or future clients, the line must be open for consultation. Especially for protected witnesses and victims of harassment and threats, as well as victims of gender-based or domestic violence.

What role do you think cybersecurity will take in 1-2 years’ time?

I believe it will become even more sub-specialized, there will be greater automation of manual processes, the number of public victim support lines will increase, and there will be greater awareness on the part of society and companies. Finally, a primary role can be given to the real origin of many attacks: the emotional, psychological, and what always remains—the human approach, both for victim care and for understanding the motivation behind the aggression.

How is it applied in general?

I cannot imagine my social, professional, family, and personal daily life without taking cybersecurity into account. We are already in the century of information security; the paradigm changed 15 years ago, but we have only been seeing the changes for the last 6-9 years, and the total surge has occurred in the last 3. With the lockdown, we are seeing a real spike in very nasty cases. Cybercriminals have been having a field day for the past 2 months.

How do you use it in your work?

It is almost like thinking about how to use the internet or a smartphone; you don’t think about it anymore, it is 100% integrated. It is inconceivable to live without taking all protection measures into account—with clients, suppliers, management tools, devices, connections, and our daily behavior.

What type of companies hire you and for what type of work?

I cannot provide any specific details, so I will answer globally to provide a conceptual overview. From multinationals to SMEs, including freelancers, celebrities, public institutions, and private individuals. Any person or organization that needs to protect and defend their digital identity, whether they have been previously attacked or not.

How do you relate cybersecurity and marketing/advertising in your company?

They go completely hand in hand; they are very complementary, but we are still at odds. Many companies and independent professionals are using marketing and advertising tools with a staggering naivety that violates user privacy, their own security, and that of their clients. The reason is that the objectives are different: the marketing person’s goal is to become known; the goal in our sector is to do so safely, and often, to stay hidden.

The moment will come when they will be integrated, but it will have to come after many previous setbacks and the resulting laws and fines.

Do you have direct competition in your sector?

No, there are companies that perform some of our services but they are scattered; there isn’t one that integrates everything as such. This, combined with the fact that we have been working as sleeper cells for 13 years, gives us a lot of flexibility, a great capacity for adaptation, high standards, and a permanent (passive and active) search for talent.

Why is there a number for emergency calls on the onbranding.es website?

Unfortunately, the police cannot cover everything, nor is it their responsibility to follow up post-incident. Whether they are past, current, or future clients, the line must be open for consultation. Especially for protected witnesses and victims of harassment and threats, as well as victims of gender-based or domestic violence.

What role do you think cybersecurity will take in 1-2 years’ time?

I believe it will become even more sub-specialized, there will be greater automation of manual processes, the number of public victim support lines will increase, and there will be greater awareness on the part of society and companies. Finally, a primary role can be given to the real origin of many attacks: the emotional, psychological, and what always remains—the human approach, both for victim care and for understanding the motivation behind the aggression.