Cybersecurity in Treasury; if you are where the money is, you are where the hackers want to be too

Interview with Auke Zwaan, Cybersecurity Specialist and former Hacker

Auke will come to this year’s event to talk about cybersecurity in treasury. How can you prepare and be proactive to prevent upcoming hacker attacks? Also take part in an in-depth discussion about how we can prevent cyber-attacks and how we can build up awareness in the treasury team and corporation about cybersecurity.

In the interview, you will find out more about what to expect from his session, as well as his insights on what is important when trying to be proactive and prevent upcoming hacker attacks.”

Could you please introduce yourself and your work at Black Swan Cyber Defense?

My name is Auke Zwaan, and I’m the founder of Black Swan Cyber Defense. We offer cyber security advisory services to a wide range of organizations in multiple sectors. These include government, automotive, FMCG and finance. The approach we take here is to look at the cybersecurity posture and challenges of clients from a hacker’s point of view. After all, if you know how the attacker thinks, you can defend accordingly.

What will you speak about at Nordic Cash & Treasury Management 2025?

During Nordic Cash & Treasury Management 2025 I will be hosting an interactive session where I will invite the audience to together craft the perfect hack on their organizations. We will be looking through the different stages of cyberattacks, and then discuss how those could manifest themselves for the organizations present in the room. The goal is to spark the debate about cybersecurity and to inspire.

“The goal is to spark the debate about cybersecurity and to inspire.”

What is important when trying to prepare and be proactive to prevent upcoming hacker attacks?

I believe taking cybersecurity seriously requires commitment across all fronts and at every level of the organization. Over the last 10 years I have seen countless examples where regular employees were perfectly aware of the shortcomings and potential vulnerabilities they were working with on a daily basis. The question, then, is why those issues hadn’t already reached the cybersecurity team’s agenda. You’d be surprised how many attacks you could proactively prepare for with relatively simple measure, like scenario analysis sessions.

Which are the main obstacles when you are working with cybersecurity?

With the growing demand for cybersecurity personnel, I see some organizations taking a shift towards ’downgrading’ cybersecurity to something non-technical and political. While it is good (and actually quite important) to make cybersecurity a board-level topic, we should not forget that, in essence, it is a deeply technical matter. I see this as a significant challenge. Instead of trying to make cybersecurity something fluffy and managerial, I truly believe we should strive to teach technical skills to decision-makers. By equipping leaders with a better understanding of technical concepts, they can make more informed decisions, bridge the gap between strategy and execution, and ultimately create a more resilient organization.

“Instead of trying to make cybersecurity something fluffy and managerial, I truly believe we should strive to teach technical skills to decision-makers.”

What is the most important thing you would like to share in your cybersecurity session and presentation?

I believe it’s important to realize that cybersecurity isn’t some distant, complex field — it’s something anyone can understand. Most hacking techniques aren’t that hard to grasp; it just takes a bit of curiosity and a willingness to learn.

What are you most looking forward to by attending and speaking at the event?

I’m always fascinated (in a positive way) by how quickly people can embrace their ’inner hacker’ when we collectively agree to shift our mindset from that of a regular employee to that of an attacker. It’s incredible to see how creative, curious, and even a bit ’evil’ we become when we start thinking like the adversary. I’m really looking forward to experiencing that mindset shift with the audience and exploring how it can help us better defend our organizations.

Meet Aukeat this year’s Nordic Cash & Treasury Management event, March 11-12 at 7A Posthuset in Stockholm!