San Sebastian, Spain
Ander Galisteo
Cybersecurity Executive | Industrial Cybersecurity Director | OT/IoT Security, Risk and Engineering Leadership
Ander Galisteo is an industrial cybersecurity and embedded-systems leader focused on secure OT/IoT architectures, security strategy, risk reduction, and engineering delivery for security-critical products.
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A Markdown-powered portfolio for cybersecurity leadership, research, publications, and public work.
Current focus
Leadership across security-critical systems
Industrial cybersecurity, OT/IoT security, embedded systems, and engineering leadership.
ExperienceResearch track
Research
Content is maintained through Markdown files in GitHub.
PublicationsPortfolio
Projects and public work
2026
Industrial cybersecurity programs
Security strategy, threat modeling, secure architecture, incident-response exercises, and remediation planning for OT/IoT and critical-infrastructure environments.
2023
OpenVLC and visible light communication for IoT
Research, prototyping, hardware, firmware, and software work around OpenVLC, an open-source platform designed to make visible light communication more accessible for development, teaching, and experimentation.
2023
Hardware-in-the-loop adoption for embedded teams
Guidance and delivery patterns for teams moving embedded testing from manual workflows toward more reliable automated HIL setups.
2019
Self-hosted portfolio on Raspberry Pi
Earlier personal website built and hosted from scratch on a Raspberry Pi 3 with Apache, MySQL, and WordPress.
Experience
Leadership across security-critical systems
Jan 2023 - Present
Director of Industrial Cybersecurity
- Owns industrial cybersecurity strategy for OT/IoT and critical-infrastructure clients, aligning security roadmaps with business risk, operational resilience, and executive priorities.
- Reduced average high-risk exposure by 70% across assessed environments through threat modeling, secure architectures, incident-response exercises, and risk-based remediation plans.
- Translates cybersecurity risk into actionable programs, reusable service offerings, and trusted advisory relationships with industrial clients.
Sep 2022 - Present
Lecturer
- Teaches telematics and networking while bringing industry experience in cybersecurity, embedded systems, and secure communications into academic programs.
Jan 2023 - Sep 2024
Director of Engineering, Enterprise Development Services
- Led engineering-service operations for enterprise clients, managing 13 direct reports, up to 54 indirect reports, and 11 concurrent projects across security-critical firmware and embedded-system engagements.
- Improved delivery predictability, utilization, and project profitability by 150% through stronger planning, resource allocation, accountability, and escalation management.
- Owned hiring, customer relationships, delivery governance, and executive stakeholder communication across distributed technical teams.
Jul 2022 - Jan 2023
Team Lead, Firmware Development Services
- Led client delivery for embedded and IoT projects, improving sprint predictability through clearer planning, risk tracking, and stakeholder communication.
- Tripled adoption of secure firmware and automated testing practices across embedded and IoT client engagements.
May 2021 - Jul 2022
Senior Engineer, Firmware Development Services and Security Expert
- Delivered secure firmware and embedded-security consulting across more than 50 client projects, reducing security risk through secure boot, OTA hardening, cryptography, and protocol security.
- Drove architecture-to-implementation delivery while aligning security requirements, timelines, and client constraints.
Apr 2020 - May 2021
Senior Cybersecurity Researcher and Embedded Systems Developer
- Developed secure architectures and protocols for industrial embedded systems across 20 research and industrial projects.
- Contributed to European research initiatives, including Fractal, in industrial, power-management, and biomedical embedded systems.
Sep 2016 - Apr 2020
Researcher in Visible Light Communication for Embedded Systems
- Published more than 10 peer-reviewed papers and built four PoCs/MVPs in visible light communication for embedded and IoT systems.
- Contributed to OpenVLC, improving research-to-prototype transfer and embedded communication capabilities.
2015 - 2016
Teaching Assistant
- Supported a first-year computer science programming course while completing graduate studies in network communications.
Summer 2014
Engineering Intern
- Built tooling to simulate ARM processor intrinsics on non-ARM Linux machines, helping accelerate development workflows for ARM-targeted software.
Skills
Operating range
Security Leadership
Cybersecurity strategy · Risk management · Security governance · Executive reporting · Security roadmaps
Security Engineering
Threat modeling · Cryptography · Secure boot · Secure OTA · Secure architectures · Secure protocols
Engineering and Delivery
Agile governance · Delivery operations · Profitability · Resource planning · CI/CD · HIL · Automated testing
Embedded and Software
Embedded Linux · RTOS · Zephyr · FreeRTOS · BLE · C/C++ · Python
Education
Academic foundation
2020-2021
MBA
Quantic School of Business and Technology · Remote, United States
Top 10%2016-2020
Ph.D. in Telematics Engineering
University Carlos III of Madrid · Madrid, Spain
Cum laude2015-2016
Master in Engineering Technology
University of Houston · Houston, United States
3.67/42014-2016
Master in Telecommunications Engineering
University of Navarra · San Sebastian, Spain
8.57/102010-2014
Telecommunication Engineering
University of Navarra · San Sebastian, Spain
8.76/10Awards & Scholarships
Academic recognition and research support
2017
CoNEXT Travel Grant
Travel grant to attend CoNEXT in South Korea.
2016
PhD scholarship for doctoral studies in Spain
Personal scholarship funding three years of PhD studies in Spain.
2016
COT Graduate Research Day, second prize for best poster
Second prize for best poster at the University of Houston College of Technology Graduate Research Day.
2016
Altuning Pro Prize
Prize for innovative ideas with potential application in Gipuzkoa.
2015
Scholarship for master thesis abroad
Scholarship for top students completing their master thesis abroad.
2014
University of Navarra postgraduate scholarship
Scholarship for postgraduate studies at the University of Navarra.
2014
Kutxa Prize for academic excellence
Awarded to first-ranked undergraduate students with a grade average above 8.0.
2014
University of Navarra academic excellence award
Recognition for students with the highest grades in their class.
Public Appearances
Science communication and media
Industrial cybersecurity and embedded systems
RootedCON · 2026
Speaker profile focused on industrial cybersecurity, OT/IoT systems, embedded security, research, and technical communication.
Running Up That HIL: A Guide to Starting with HIL
Embedded Online Conference · 2023
Conference session on hardware testing tools and architecture for teams beginning with hardware-in-the-loop testing.
Science Corner and Aula Ciencia demos
IFEMA / Aula Ciencia · 2019
Science Corner talk and outreach demo activities at Aula 2019.
Demo at AULA Planeta Ciencia
AULA Planeta Ciencia · 2018
Hands-on public demo showing how people can play and interact through light.
Ciencia en Acción
Ciencia en Acción · 2018
Science outreach event in Villadecans with a visible light communication demo.
Popular science article on blockchain
Naukas · 2018
Popular science article explaining blockchain concepts through an everyday social scenario.
Blockchain article in Elhuyar
Elhuyar · 2018
Basque-language popular science article on blockchain and Bitcoin.
Interview in Noticias de Gipuzkoa
Noticias de Gipuzkoa · 2017
Public interview on research, learning, and the value of investing in knowledge for the future.
Public talk at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid · 2017
Science communication talk explaining visible light communication research to a broader audience.
Talk at Madrid Science Week
Madrid Science Week · 2017
Public outreach activity during Madrid Science Week.
Article in El Diario Vasco
El Diario Vasco · 2016
Media coverage connected to engineering and architecture students recognized for academic achievement.
Appearance on Onda Cero San Sebastián
Onda Cero · 2016
Radio appearance in Gipuzkoa en la Onda.
Publications
Research
Prototyping Visible Light Communication for the Internet of Things Using OpenVLC
2023
Borja Genovés Guzmán, Muhammad Sarmad Mir, Dayrene Frómeta, Ander Galisteo, Qing Wang, and Domenico Giustiniano.
Visible Light Communication Networks for IoT and its Applications
2020
PhD thesis by Ander Galisteo Zabalo, advised by Domenico Giustiniano, focused on visible light communication networks for IoT and their applications.
Non-linearity of LEDs for VLC IoT applications
2020
Muhammad Sarmad Mir, Borja Genovés Guzmán, Ander Galisteo, and Domenico Giustiniano.
Filtering Visible Light Reflections with a Single-Pixel Photodetector
2020
Ander Galisteo, Patrizio Marcocci, Marco Zuniga, Lorenzo Mucchi, Borja Genovés Guzmán, and Domenico Giustiniano.
Two to Tango: Hybrid Light and Backscatter Networks for Next Billion Devices
2020
Ander Galisteo, Ambuj Varshney, and Domenico Giustiniano.
A Cell-Free Networking System With Visible Light
2020
Jona Beysens, Qing Wang, Ander Galisteo, Domenico Giustiniano, and Sofie Pollin.
Video Transmission Using Low-Cost Visible Light Communication
2019
Ander Galisteo, Diego Juara, Héctor Cordobés, and Domenico Giustiniano.
Research in Visible Light Communication Systems with OpenVLC1.3
2019
Ander Galisteo, Diego Juara, and Domenico Giustiniano.
DenseVLC: A Cell-Free Massive MIMO System with Distributed LEDs
2018
Jona Beysens, Ander Galisteo, Qing Wang, Diego Juara, Domenico Giustiniano, and Sofie Pollin.
OpenVLC1.2: Achieving Higher Throughput in Low-End Visible Light Communication Networks
2018
Ander Galisteo, Diego Juara, Qing Wang, and Domenico Giustiniano.
Follow That Light: Leveraging LEDs for Relative Two-Dimensional Localization
2017
Ander Galisteo, Qing Wang, Aniruddha Deshpande, Marco Zuniga, and Domenico Giustiniano.
Demo: OpenVLC1.2 for Increased Data Rate with Embedded Systems
2017
Ander Galisteo, Hongjia Wu, Qing Wang, Diego Juara, Marco Zuniga, and Domenico Giustiniano.
Recognition
Build secure industrial systems with evidence, clarity, and delivery discipline.
For collaborations, advisory work, or industrial cybersecurity programs, get in touch.