Paul Herz, I.S.P.

Hi, I’m Paul. I’m an IT specialist with a security focus, and one question keeps me busy: How do systems stay secure when AI becomes part of them?

How I got into IT

My first steps in IT happened during my apprenticeship as an office administrator at a car dealership in Bavaria. Alongside the office work, I took care of systems and backups. In the workshop I became the go-to person for anything tech related and rolled out updates for all kinds of software.

The German Armed Forces is where security really clicked for me. I served 12 years, 10 of them in IT, across the Army and the Navy and in classified environments. I secured 700 workstations, rolled out hardware across an entire naval base and trained more than 600 soldiers to work securely. After that, I tested embedded software for the Bentley Bentayga and Audi models. Then I set off to travel through Canada, and I fell in love with the people and the nature so much that I decided to build my future here. All in all, I bring 14+ years of experience in IT support, systems administration and cybersecurity, gained in Germany and Canada.

What I do today

Today I live near Calgary and work in managed IT for 45+ businesses across Alberta, from accounting firms to oil and gas. I handle incident response for phishing and business email compromise, with zero data loss so far. I pushed MFA from under 40% to 75% of our clients, and I coordinate our team’s day-to-day work.

AI has become a growing part of that work. I assess and secure tools like Microsoft Copilot and Claude with a strong focus on data privacy, and I build AI-assisted scripts and automations.

What drives me

The military is where I fell in love with security. I find AI fascinating, and I believe it will shape the future. In my home lab, one AI agent even tried to break out of its virtual machine. Lesson learned: AI needs guardrails. So I keep asking myself what risks can come from it, and how we protect people and machines from each other.

Learning

I hold the I.S.P. (Information Systems Professional) designation from CIPS and will apply for the next level, the ITCP (Information Technology Certified Professional), in early 2027. I’m also completing the AI Cybersecurity and Governance program with Columbia Engineering.

Outside of work

When I’m not at the keyboard, you’ll find me at the gym, out with my camera capturing landscapes and travel moments, or tinkering with my home lab.

• Mar 2025 to present

  User Support Technician

  Evolution IT | Calgary, Alberta, Canada

  • Keeping 500+ devices secure for 45+ Calgary and Alberta businesses at 95%+ patch compliance.
  • Zero data loss from phishing and business email compromise through fast incident response.
  • Raised MFA from under 40% to 75% of clients and cut phishing clicks by 70% with awareness training.
  • Helping clients adopt AI safely and guiding the team as their go-to escalation point.

  SentinelOne · Petra ITDR · Microsoft 365 · Entra ID · Active Directory · Avanan · SonicWall · FortiGate · UniFi · Veeam · N-able Cove · uSecure

• Feb 2023 to Feb 2025

  Freelance IT Security Consultant

  Self-employed | Remote, clients in Germany

  • Cut phishing clicks from 40% to 10% with hands-on security awareness training for small businesses.
  • Ran security risk assessments and hardened devices, email and backups with GDPR in mind.
  • Earned 9 certifications, including ISO/IEC 27001 Security Officer and TÜV IT Compliance Manager.
  • Built a security home lab with Wazuh, Microsoft Sentinel and Kali Linux, and trained on TryHackMe.

  GoPhish · uSecure · Wizer · Microsoft 365 · BitLocker · Wazuh · Microsoft Sentinel · Kali Linux · pfSense · TryHackMe · HackTheBox

• Apr 2022 to Jan 2023

  Test Engineer

  e.solutions GmbH | Erlangen, Germany

  • Tested embedded infotainment and digital cockpit software for the Bentley Bentayga, Audi A3 and Audi A6.
  • Cut test time by up to 60% by automating manual tests with SimUI scripting, Python and AI-based image checks.
  • Tested security functions like access control and encrypted communication with ISO/SAE 21434 in mind.
  • Worked closely with Bentley's UK team and developers to track down root causes fast.

  Vector CANoe · CANalyzer · SimUI · Polarion · Jira · Jenkins · Git · Docker · Python · ODIS Engineering · VCDS · VAS 5054A · VAS 6154 · vFlash

• Jan 2009 to Dec 2020

  Senior IT Specialist, IT Security (Team Lead)

  German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) | Germany

  • Trained 600+ soldiers in cybersecurity awareness and led up to 60 personnel.
  • Secured 700 workstations for 800+ personnel in classified military networks with SIEM and IDS monitoring.
  • Rolled out 700 workstations and a secure printing framework across 3 naval base barracks.
  • Recognized with a performance bonus and commendations for work far above my rank.

  Active Directory · Group Policy · Windows Server · VMware · SIEM · IDS · Firewalls · PowerShell · Wireshark · Veeam · BSI IT-Grundschutz