At the beginning of September Jasper Witteveen started as Risk, Compliance & Security Consultant. Jasper started his first job at Protify after studying Integral Security Studies. At a younger age Jasper became interested in cybersecurity and thought about becoming a detective, yet he chose to become a consultant. He really wants to help customers with information security and see where things can be done even better. In his spare time he enjoys sports and plays soccer every week, his favorite food is stew and he loves Griffon shorthorn dogs. He played drums for a long time and was inspired by Phil Collins.
Background and education
Jasper was born and raised in IJsselstein, near Utrecht, and moved to Utrecht at the age of 18 to study and live in rooms. He graduated in Integral Security Studies in January 2023. During his studies, he did a graduate internship at the Center for Crime Prevention and Safety (CCV) in Utrecht, where he focused on cybersecurity, mainly in relation to SMEs. During this internship, he organized conferences to make SMEs aware of cybersecurity, with common questions being about cost savings and minimizing expenses. Jasper stressed the importance of investing in information security to prevent cheap from eventually becoming expensive. Here, for him, the importance of raising awareness for cybersecurity, among SMEs, only became clearer, which comes in handy at Protify. Through his internship and the assignments he did for both the municipality of Utrecht and ANWB, his interest in the field grew.
Choice for Integral Security Studies
Jasper started studying commercial economics, but after a few months, he noticed that this did not motivate him enough. However, his interest was piqued by safety issues that regularly appeared in the news. Although IVK also covers physical security, such as fire and natural disasters, it was social security in particular, such as homicide and drug crime, that appealed to him the most. After talking with people taking the same course, he realized it was a better fit for him because IVK covers a broad spectrum of security topics.
Detective and cybersecurity
Jasper used to aspire to become a detective and thought about pursuing this route after college. However, after being introduced to subjects such as information security and cybersecurity during his studies, his focus changed. These topics caught his attention and turned out to be relevant to detectives as well. After talking with people who had trained as detectives, Jasper decided to first work in the corporate world for a few years. His ambition now is to work in his current position at Protify for a longer period of time, developing more and more as a consultant. Who knows, maybe one day he will further train as a detective.
Adventure in Australia
Before joining Protify, Jasper took a four-month break to enjoy his time off. He traveled to Australia, where he first spent six weeks in Sydney taking an English course. He then traveled to Cairns, where Fraser Island was one of his favorite destinations and he had impressive experiences.
Why Protify?
Jasper already knew Hans Klijssen; graduation intern at Protify, from Utrecht, where they followed the same study. Hans told him with enthusiasm about Protify and therefore he decided to approach them with an open application.
Jasper deliberately chose a smaller organization over a larger one for his first job. He believes that a smaller organization can offer him better guidance and a better familiarisation process, which suits him better as a novice professional. Already confirmed in this in the first weeks, Jasper found the first weeks to be very positive. 'The structure of the onboarding program was immediately clear. Already after 2 weeks I went along to an internal audit for the first time, so I could immediately see how it works and the practical application of the knowledge.
'The guidance is very intensive and I find that positive! I have already received many sessions and explanations in the first weeks.'
'The focus now is on ISO 27001 the standard for information security. And I'm already looking forward to gaining more experience and further development. After about a year I will also focus on EN50518 for alarm receiving centers.'
Phil Collins and vegetable mash
Outside of his work at Protify, Jasper is a lover of sports and music. He plays soccer with friends in Amsterdam and enjoys spending time with his friends and roommates. He also has a passion for music and has played drums for 19 years. Although he is currently unable to play drums due to lack of space, he remains inspired by artists such as Phil Collins.
When Jasper starts cooking, which is not his hobby 😊 he prefers to make vegetable mash.
Future
In two years, Jasper hopes to call himself a full-fledged consultant with extensive knowledge of standards and practical experience in business. 'I really want to help customers successfully complete audits and advise them on information security, among other things.' said Jasper.
Wil jij net als Jasper als consultant bij Protify aan de slag?
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