{"id":945,"date":"2026-03-20T16:34:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/?page_id=945"},"modified":"2026-05-14T09:09:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:09:36","slug":"sergiu-zaharia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/sergiu-zaharia\/","title":{"rendered":"Sergiu Zaharia"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1742585916053{margin-top: 15px !important;background-color: #f6f6f6 !important;}” z_index=””][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” text_align=”left” css_animation=””][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”944″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_outline” border_color=”blue” qode_css_animation=”element_from_left” qode_hover_animation=”zoom_in”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1778749766589{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Independent Cyber Advisor & Founder Expand Cyber<\/h3>\n

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Sergiu Zaharia is a senior cyber strategy advisor with over 25 years of experience in cybersecurity operations, crisis management, and strategic consulting for both local and international organizations.<\/p>\n

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Throughout his career, Sergiu has held key operational and advisory roles, including Infosec Officer Engineer within the Romanian Defense Intelligence, Central Security Director at Telekom Romania, Lead of Cyber Security Advisory at BearingPoint, and Director of Cyber Strategy at Deloitte Romania.<\/p>\n

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In 2024, he founded Expand Cyber, a company dedicated to advancing cybersecurity expertise across the business ecosystem. Expand Cyber supports organizations in critical sectors by assessing their cyber resilience maturity, designing and implementing cybersecurity strategies, and strengthening their preparedness for emerging cyber crises.<\/p>\n

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Sergiu is also a lecturer at the \u201cTitu Maiorescu\u201d University and the Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, where he teaches cybersecurity to the next generation of cyber professionals. He holds multiple certifications in cybersecurity and privacy, earned a merit diploma from the IT Security Master of Science program, and recently completed his PhD, focusing on artificial intelligence as an enabler for software resilience.<\/p>\n

LinkedIn Profile<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”58px”][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”center” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1472811249082{padding-top: 86px !important;padding-bottom: 65px !important;background-color: #28395b !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Voices of Support and Appreciation<\/span><\/h2>\n

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  • <\/div>
    The conference was fabulous!<\/h5><\/div>
    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>

    \"Thank you for your impeccable hospitality, I myself am a conference organizer also and all I can say is - thank you for your hard work!\"<\/p>

    Nikola Skoric - CEO Electrocoin (Croatia)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>

  • <\/div>
    The experience was terrific.<\/h5><\/div>
    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>

    \"Getting to Sinaia and back, and the different tours were also great. Looking forward to next year!\"<\/p>

    Arturo Gonzales Mac Dowell - Chair at Asociaci\u00f3n Espa\u00f1ola de Fintech e Insurtech (Spain)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>

  • <\/div>
    Thank you<\/h5><\/div>
    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>

    \"Thank you for your excellent logistics and warm hospitality.\"<\/p>

    David Birch - Author, advisor and commentator on digital financial service (UK)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>

  • <\/div>
    A great pleasure to participate<\/h5><\/div>
    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>

    \"Thanks again for all your efforts, it was a great pleasure to participate in Banking 4.0.\"<\/p>

    Zakariya Rahmouni - Key Account Management at HPS (Morocco)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>

  • <\/div>
    Everything went very well<\/h5><\/div>
    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>

    We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the conference and in Sinaia. Many thanks to you for organising and making this run so smoothly!<\/p>

    Ralf Ohlhausen - European Third Party Providers Association Chair (Germany)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>

  • <\/div>
    Thanks again for a wonderful Banking4.0 event<\/h5><\/div>
    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>

    I was impressed with the topic, the community you have built and of course the location and the castles we visited. It has been a superb experience.<\/p>

    Henk Marsman - Principal Consultant Identity and Access Management at SonicBee (The Netherlands)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>

  • <\/div>
    A big thank you to the organizers<\/h5><\/div>
    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>

    For putting together such a well-structured and insightful event. It was also a pleasure to connect with so many amazing professionals.\"<\/p>

    Anke Marin - Development Manager, CEE - LexisNexis Solutions (Poland)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>

  • <\/div>
    A fantastic experience<\/h5><\/div>
    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>

    Thanks a lot for having us and for the great organization! It was a fantastic experience.<\/p>

    Emiel Coppieters - Strategy Associate itsme (Belgium)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>

  • <\/div>
    International, vibrant and insightful<\/h5><\/div>
    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>

    BANKING 4.0 is probably the top digital banking and fintech conference in Eastern Europe. Big congratulations to organizers for growing BANKING 4.0 into an international, vibrant and insightful event!<\/p>

    Radu Topliceanu - EVP, Head of NEO and Personal Banking at Mashreq (UAE)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1742585916053{margin-top: 15px !important;background-color: #f6f6f6 !important;}” z_index=””][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” text_align=”left” css_animation=””][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”944″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_outline” border_color=”blue” qode_css_animation=”element_from_left” qode_hover_animation=”zoom_in”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1778749766589{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”] Independent Cyber Advisor & Founder Expand Cyber   Sergiu Zaharia is a senior cyber strategy advisor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full_width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-945","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1107,"href":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/945\/revisions\/1107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banking40.ro\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}