Marko Hölbl

Brief Biography

• PhD in the field of Computer Science, 2009
• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, 2004

International and Working Groups Involvement

• Member, 2023 - present
  Cryptography Consultative Working Group with the Government Office for the Protection of Classified Information
• Executive board member, 2020-present
  Association for Informatics and Telecommunications, Cybersecurity Section with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia
• Vice-president, 2023 - present
  Slovenian Society Informatika
• Secretary-General, 2019 – Present
  European Association for Education in Electrical and Information Engineering (EAEEIE).
• Member, 2019 - present
  European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO), WG6: SRIA and Cyber Security Technologies
• Secretary-General, 2007 – Present
  Council of European Professional Informatics Societies – Legal and Security Issues Special Interest Network (CEPIS LSI)
• Executive board member, 2017 - present
  Slovenian Society Informatika
• Member, 2013 - 2016
  Network and Information Security – Working Group 3 on secure ICT research and innovation (NIS WG 3)

Main research topics

• Cybersecurity
• Application of Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity
• Artificial Intelligence Security
• Applied Cryptography and Post-Quantum Cryptography
• Digital Forensics
• Authentication and Key Exchange in Constrained Environments
• Information Security

Selected publication

Book Chapters and Sections

• HÖLBL, Marko, ZADOROZHNY, Vladimir I., WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, KOMPARA, Marko, NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili. Browser fingerprinting: overview and open challenges. V: TROPMANN-FRICK, Marina (ur.), et al. Information modelling and knowledge bases XXXV. Amsterdam [etc.]: IOS Press, cop. 2024. pp 297-307. Frontiers in artificial intelligence and applications, Vol. 380. ISBN 978-1-64368-476-5, ISBN 978-1-64368-477-2. ISSN 0922-6389.
• KOMPARA, Marko, HÖLBL, Marko. Cybersecurity for online education. V: WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana (ur.). Cyber Security- Training Students and Scholars for the Challenges of Information and Communication Technologies in Research and Studies for Internationalisation: handbook. Maribor: Univerza v Mariboru, Univerzitetna založba, 2023. Str. [45]-63. ISBN 978-961-286-693-8, ISBN 978-961-286-698-3. https://press.um.si/index.php/ump/catalog/book/753.
• NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili, WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, HERIČKO, Marjan, HÖLBL, Marko. Models of privacy and security issues on mobile applications. V: Censorship, surveillance, and privacy: concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications : (4 Volumes). Hershey: IGI Global, cop. 2019. Str. 1924-1946. ISBN 978-1-5225-7113-1, ISBN 1-5225-7113-2, ISBN 978-1-5225-7114-8. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-7113-1.ch095.
• NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili, HERIČKO, Marjan, WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, HÖLBL, Marko. Models of privacy and security issues on mobile applications. V: PELET, Jean-Éric. Mobile platforms, design, and apps for social commerce. Hershey (Pa.): IGI Global. cop. 2017, str. 84-105, doi: 10.4018/978-1-5225-2469-4.ch006.
• HÖLBL, Marko, WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili. Security and privacy related issues in the internet of things. V: WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana (ur.), et al. Information modelling and knowledge bases XXVII, (Frontiers in artificial intelligence and applications, ISSN 0922-6389, vol. 280). Amsterdam; Berlin; Washington (DC): IOS Press, cop. 2016, str. 321-326. [COBISS.SI-ID 19312406]

Journal Papers

• KOMPARA, Marko, NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili, TURKANOVIĆ, Muhamed, HÖLBL, Marko. Importance of cybersecurity competencies in higher education and for employers. Applied sciences. 2026, vol. 16, iss. 7, [article no.] 3260, 23 str., ilustr. ISSN 2076-3417.
• MEKA, Chahna, REDDY PALAKOLLU, Keerthi, AZEES, Maria, RAJASEKARAN, Arun Sekar, DAS, Ashok Kumar, HÖLBL, Marko. A comprehensive survey on integration of machine learning with secure blockchain-based applications. Cluster computing. 2025, vol. 28, [article no.] 632, 35 str., ilustr. ISSN 1573-7543. DOI: 10.1007/s10586-025-05330-z.
• BANSAL, Anjali, KUMARI, Saru, DOSHI, Nishant, AMOON, Mohammed, HÖLBL, Marko. Security enhanced CLS and CL-AS scheme without pairings for VANETs. IEEE access. 28 Feb. 2025, vol. 13, str. 42508-42520, ilustr. ISSN 2169-3536. DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3546699.
• TYAGI, Pooja, KUMARI, Saru, ALENAZI, Mohammed J. F., HÖLBL, Marko. A secure way of communication for smart grid networks. International journal of distributed sensor networks. [Online ed.]. First published: 19 November 2025, vol. 2025, [article no.] 2037480, 15 str., ilustr. ISSN 1550-1477. DOI: 10.1155/dsn/2037480.
• HÖLBL, Marko, KEŽMAH, Boštjan, KOMPARA, Marko. eIDAS interoperability and cross-border compliance issues. Mathematics. 2023, vol. 11, no. 2, 25 str. ISSN 2227-7390. DOI: 10.3390/math11020430.
• NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili, HRGAREK, Luka, WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, HÖLBL, Marko. Models of privacy and disclosure on social networking sites: a systematic literature review. Mathematics. 2022, vol. 10, no. 1, 37 str. ISSN 2227-7390. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/10/1/146, DOI: 10.3390/math10010146.
• HÖLBL, Marko, KEŽMAH, Boštjan, KOMPARA, Marko. Data protection heterogeneity in the European Union. Applied sciences. Nov.-2 2021, vol. 11, iss. 22, str. 1-9. ISSN 2076-3417. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/22/10912, DOI: 10.3390/app112210912.
• KOMPARA, Marko, ISLAM, SK Hafizul, HÖLBL, Marko. A robust and efficient mutual authentication and key agreement scheme with untraceability for WBANs. Computer networks : the international journal of computer and telecommunications networking. [Print ed.]. jan. 2019, vol. 148, str. 196-213. ISSN 1389-1286. DOI: 10.1016/j.comnet.2018.11.016.
• KOMPARA, Marko, KUMARI, Saru, HÖLBL, Marko. Analysis and improvement of a secure key management protocol for e-health applications. Computers & electrical engineering, ISSN 0045-7906, Jan. 2019, vol. 73, str. 97-113, doi: 10.1016/j.compeleceng.2018.11.007.
• HÖLBL, Marko, KOMPARA, Marko, KAMIŠALIĆ, Aida, NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili. A systematic review of the use of blockchain in healthcare. Symmetry, ISSN 2073-8994, 2018, vol. 10, iss. 10, str. 1-22, doi: 10.3390/sym10100470.
• TURKANOVIĆ, Muhamed, HÖLBL, Marko, KOŠIČ, Kristjan, HERIČKO, Marjan, KAMIŠALIĆ, Aida. EduCTX: A blockchain-based higher education credit platform. IEEE access, ISSN 2169-3536, 5 Jan. 2018, vol. 6, iss. 1, str. 5112-5127, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2789929.
• KOMPARA, Marko, HÖLBL, Marko. Survey on security in intra-body area network communication. Ad hoc networks, ISSN 1570-8705, March 2018, vol. 70, str. 23-43, doi: 10.1016/j.adhoc.2017.11.006.

Conference and Workshop Papers

• HÖLBL, Marko, WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili. Analysis of Students' Pre-Knowledge of Computer Programming over Time. V: AA, Nico van der (ur.). Proceedings of the 2023 32st Annual conference of the European association for education in electrical and information engineering (EAEEIE): EAEEIE 2023, Eidhoven, The Netherlands, 14-16 June, 2023. Danvers: IEEE, cop. 2023. pp 256-260. ISBN 978-90-386-5690-8. DOI: 10.23919/EAEEIE55804.2023.10181910.
• HÖLBL, Marko, NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili, KOMPARA, Marko. Effect of distance teaching on student’s course evaluations. V: LOPES, Fernando (ur.), FONSECA, Inácio (ur.). Proceedings of the 2022 31st Annual conference of the European association for education in electrical and information engineering (EAEEIE): EAEEIE 2022, Coimbra, Portugal, 29 June - 1 July, 2022. Danvers: IEEE, cop. 2022. pp 68-72. ISBN 978-1-6654-8441-1, ISBN 978-1-6654-8442-8. DOI: 10.1109/EAEEIE54893.2022.9820164.
• HÖLBL, Marko, WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili. Students' background knowledge influence on learning computer programming. V: MAGA, Dušan (ur.), HAJEK, Jiri (ur.). Proceedings of the 2021 30th Annual conference of the European association for education in electrical and information engineering (EAEEIE): EAEEIE 2021, Prague, Czech Republic, September 1-3, 2021. Danvers: IEEE, cop. 2021. ISBN 978-1-7281-9324-3, ISBN 978-1-7281-9327-4. DOI: 10.1109/EAEEIE50507.2021.9530882.
• TURKANOVIĆ, Muhamed, WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, HÖLBL, Marko. An example of a cybersecurity education model. In: ZAHARIEV, Plamen Z. (ed.). 29th Annual conference of the European association for education in electrical and information engineering - EAEEIE 2019 : conference proceedings : EAEEIE 2019, 4th - 6th September, 2019, Universita of Ruse, Ruse, Bulgaria. [S. l.]: IEEE, cop. 2019. pp 1-4. ISBN 978-1-7281-3222-8. DOI: 10.1109/EAEEIE46886.2019.9000440.
• HÖLBL, Marko, NEMEC ZLATOLAS, Lili. The impact of students' pre-knowledge on learning computer programming. In: BUDIMAC, Zoran (ed.), KOTESKA, Bojana (ed.). SQAMIA 2019 : proceedings. Novi Sad: Department of mathematics and Informatics, Faculty of Sciences, cop. 2019. pp 1-8. ISBN 978-86-7031-476-4. https://perun.pmf.uns.ac.rs/pracner/down/sqamia2019/sqamia2019-proc.pdf.
• HÖLBL, Marko, KAMIŠALIĆ, Aida, TURKANOVIĆ, Muhamed, KOMPARA, Marko, PODGORELEC, Blaž, HERIČKO, Marjan. EduCTX: An Ecosystem for Managing Digital Micro-Credentials. In: THORBERGSSON, Helgi (ed.). 28th EAEEIE Annual Conference : September 26th to 28th 2018, Menntasetriõ viõ Lækinn, Hafnarfjörõur, Iceland. [S. l.]: IEEE, 2018. Pp 1-4. ISBN 978-1-5386-7711-7. DOI: 10.1109/EAEEIE.2018.8534284.
• ALEKSIĆ, Aleksandra, IVANOVIĆ, Mirjana, HÖLBL, Marko, WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, VIDAKOVIĆ, Milan. Adding security to the JavaScript-based agent middleware SiebogJS. V: SKALA, Karolj (ur.). MIPRO 2018 : 41st International Convention, May 21 -25, 2018, Opatija, Croatia : proceedings. Rijeka: Croatian Society for Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics - MIPRO. 2018, pp 462-466. doi: 10.23919/MIPRO.2018.8400088.
• HÖLBL, Marko, HRGAREK, Luka, IVANOVIĆ, Mirjana, WELZER-DRUŽOVEC, Tatjana, VIDAKOVIĆ, Milan. Introducing Public-Key infrastructure for SiebogJS JavaScript-based Agent Middleware. V: AKERKAR, Rajendra (ur.). WIMSʼ18. New York: ACM. cop. 2018, pp 1-6, doi: 10.1145/3227609.3227682.

Study and research abroad

• Visiting Researcher, May 2023 – August 2023
  Laboratory Orléans Computer Science (LIFO), INSA Centre Val de Loire, Bourges, France
• Visiting Researcher, May 2018 – June 2018
  Institute for Applied Information Processing and Communications (IAIK), Faculty of Computer Science, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.
• Visiting Lecturer, 2017
  FH Joanneum, University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Austria.
• Visiting Researcher, May 2016 – June 2016
  Institute for Applied Information Processing and Communications (IAIK), Faculty of Computer Science, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.
• Visiting Researcher, May 2014 – June 2014
  Institute for Applied Information Processing and Communications (IAIK), Faculty of Computer Science, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.
• Visiting Researcher, March 2007 – June 2007
  Institute for Applied Information Processing and Communications (IAIK), Faculty of Computer Science, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria.
• Erasmus Exchange, March – June 2004,
  Tampere University of Technology, Pori, Finland
  Erasmus study exchange within the Bachelor study of Computer Science.

Workshops, lectures and invited talks

• Information Security Basics for Businesses, a workshop for Informatika d.d., 2026
• Cybersecurity: Threats and Dangers, Risk Management, NIS2 and the Information Security Act, a workshop for the Regional Chamber of Commerce Celje, 2025
• Several training courses within the Cybersecurity Academy, several workshops for Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia – Association for Informatics and Telecommunications, 2024, 2025
• Digital Certificates and Electronic Signatures in Practice, guest lecture at Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, 2024
• Demystifying Cyber Security Technologies, Workshop for the Digital Innovation Hub at University of Maribor, 2023
• Most Common Web Application Vulnerabilities, a workshop for Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, 2021
• Security aspects of REST and SOAP services, a workshop for Zavarovalnica Triglav (Triglav insurance group), 2019.
• Introduction to blockchain technology, a workshop for the Communications Networks and Services Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, 2018.
• Technological trends in the field of digital content and services, a workshop for the Communications Networks and Services Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, 2018.
• Deep and dark web technologies, lecture for the Maribor Students' Club, 2018.
• Review of existing European practice for Cyber security education, INFOFEST - 21st festival of information technology achievements, Budva, Montenegro, 2014.
• Identity-based authenticated key agreement protocols, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Dept. of electrical engineering ESAT/COSIC, Leuven, 2010.
• Authenticated Key agreement protocols, Rovira i Virgili University, Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics, Tarragona, 2008.
• Security of dedicated hash functions, Rovira i Virgili University, Department of Computer Engineering and Mathematics, Tarragona, 2006.
• Cryptographic hash functions, Tampere University of Technology, Pori, Finland, 2005.

Project work and experience

Project leader/coordinator

• DIGI-SI 2.0 (EDIH 2) - Digital Innovation for Slovenia- from response to resilience, Digital Europe project, 2026-2029
• AKADIMOS - Governance and Operational support for the development of the European Cybersecurity Skills Academy, Digital Europe project, 2025-2027
• PQC Key Management, ESA (European Space Agency) RPA project, 2024-2025
• Comprehensive Analysis and Strategy for increasing resilience to cyber risks in the Slovenian Armed Forces' ICT and weapon systems, Targeted Research Project, Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, ARIS, 2023-2024
• CyberSec4Europe - Cybersecurity for Europe, H2020 Project, 2019 – 2022, https://www.cybersec4europe.eu/
• User device and web browser fingerprinting using browsing data, bilateral project with the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA, 2022-2024
• Privacy-preserving Distributed Data Processing for IoT applications, bilateral project with the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA, 2018-2019.
• Security of multi-agent systems, bilateral project with the University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia, 2016-2017.
• Security Issues of Data Analysis, bilateral project with the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA, 2014-2015

Project collaboration

• ATHENA - Advanced Technology Higher Education Network Alliance, 2020-2023, Erasmus+ project, https://athena-uni.eu/
• TECHWHIZ – Sign Language Dictionary of Technical Terms of Education, 2022-2024, Erasmus+ project, https://techwhiz.hmu.gr/
• Cyber F-IT - Training Students and Scholars for the Challenges of Information and Communication Technologies in Research and Studies for Internationalisation, 2020-2023, Erasmus+ project
• DiT4LL – Digital Technologies for Lecturing and Learning, 2021-2023, Erasmus+ project, https://dit4ll.fel.cvut.cz/
• Developing cyber security training programmes (RUKIV - Razvoj programov usposabljanj za kibernetsko varnost), project finance by Slovenian Research Agency, 2021-2023.
• InSign - Advancing inclusive education through International Sign, 2016-2018, Erasmus+ project, https://www.uni-siegen.de/zew/insign/index.html.en?lang=en
• I-ACE - International Assisted Communication for Education, 2016-2018, Erasmus+ project, http://gilt.isep.ipp.pt/projects/i-ace/
• ECESM - Enhancing Cyber-Security Education in Montenegro), EU Tempus project, 2013 - 2016, https://ecesm.net/

Certificates

• 2009, ECQA EU Project Manager (certified by European Certification and Qualification Association)

Honours and Awards

• Golden Honorary Badge of the Slovenian Society Informatika (Slovensko društvo Informatika), 2026
• Slovenian Congress Ambassador for 2022 by the Slovenian Ambassador Programme
• Award for outstanding research work, University of Maribor, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2022
• National Award of the Slovene Society Informatika (Slovensko društvo Informatika) for the year 2015.

Review and Editorial activities

Editor / Associate Editor / Guest Editor

• Associate Editor
  Scientific Reports; EISSN: 2045-2322; Springer Nature
• Associate Editor
  ACM Transactions on Internet Technology (TOIT); ISSN: 1533-5399; EISSN: 1557-6051; ACM
• Guest Editor
  Special Issue "Federated Learning and Digital Twins for Smart Healthcare", Computers & Security and IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics; Print ISSN: 2168-2194; EISSN: 2168-2208; IEEE
• Associate Editor
  Computers and Electrical Engineering; ISSN: 0045-7906; EISSN: 1879-0755; Elsevier
• Guest Editor
  Special Issue "IFIP SEC 2020", Computers & Security; ISSN: 1872-6208
• Guest Editor
  Special Issue "Attacks, Challenges and New Designs in Security and Privacy for Smart Mobile Devices", Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing; Hindawi; ISSN: 1530-8669
• Guest Editor
  Special Issue "Privacy-Aware Authentication in a Sustainable Internet-of-Things Environment", Sustainability; MDPI; ISSN: 2071-1050
• Co-Editor
  ICT systems security and privacy protection. Cham: Springer, cop. 2020. XIII, 448 str., illustr. IFIP advances in information and communication technology (Print), 580. ISBN 978-3-030-58200-5, ISBN 978-3-030-58201-2. ISSN 1868-4238. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-58201-2, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-58201-2.

Editorial Board Memberships

• Scientific Reports; EISSN: 2045-2322; Springer Nature
• ACM Transactions on Internet Technology (TOIT); ISSN: 1533-5399; EISSN: 1557-6051; ACM
• Computers & Electrical Engineering, Elsevier, Online ISSN: 1879-0755, Print ISSN: 0045-7906
• Editorial Board Member, Computer Science and Information Systems, ISSN: 2406-1018
• Editorial Board Member, SAR Journal, ISSN 2619-9955
• Editorial Board Member, Uporabna informatika, ISSN 1318-1882

Review activities

Program committee memberships for more than 100 internationally recognized conferences and journals.
A comprehensive list of my review activities can be found at my Web of Science Author profile: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/A-6616-2009

Conference Involvement

Editor

• IFIP SEC 2020 - 35th International Conference on ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection – IFIP SEC 2020, 21-23 September 2020, Maribor, Slovenia.

Organizing Committee

• IFIP SEC 2025 - 40th International Conference on ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection, 21-23 May 2025, Maribor, Slovenia.
• EJC 2023 - 33rd International Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases, 5-9 September 2023, Maribor, Slovenia.
• IFIP SEC 2020 - 35th International Conference on ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection – IFIP SEC 2020, 21-23 September 2020, Maribor, Slovenia.
• ADBIS 2019 - 23rd European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems, 8-11 September 2019, Bled, Slovenia.
• EJC 2015 - 25th International Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases
• KMO 2015, 10th International Conference on Knowledge Management in Organisations 24-28 August 2015, Maribor, Slovenia.
• LTEC 2015 - 8th International Workshop on Learning Technology for Education Challenges, 24-28 August 2015, Maribor, Slovenia.
• EAEEIE 2011, 22nd EAEEIE Annual Conference, 13-15 June 2011, Maribor, Slovenia,
• EJC 2009 - 19th European-Japanese Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases, 1-5 June 2009, Maribor, Slovenia

Programme Committee Member

• Program committee memberships for more than 50 internationally recognized conferences and journals. A comprehensive list of my review activities can be found at my Publons public profile: https://publons.com/researcher/493269/marko-holbl/peer-review/

Supervision

Several Bachelor and Master Program Students (Bologna study program).

Finished supervision of PhD theses:

• Marko Kompara, Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for Wireless Body Sensor Network, 2018.
• Muhamed Turkanović, User authentication and key agreement protocols for ad hoc networks, tailored for the Internet of Things environment, 2016.
• Boštjan Kežmah, Design of Fair Electronic Service Protocol with Reliable Electronic Message Sent Receipt, 2016

Ongoing supervision of PhD theses:

• Luka Hrgarek, Privacy of Geolocation Data on the Web

Teaching

Professor in the following courses:

• Digital forensics, 3rd year, Informatics and Data Technologies, 1st Bologna-level, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor.
• Information security fundamentals, 2nd year, Informatics and Technologies of Communication, 1st Bologna-level, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor.
• Dynamic Web Solutions, 3rd year, Informatics and Data Technologies and Media Communications, 1st Bologna-level course, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor.
• Fundamentals of Web Programming, 1st year, Media Communications, 1st Bologna-level course, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor.
• Data Protection and Digital Forensics, 3rd year, Information Security, 1st Bologna-level, Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor.
• Data protection and cybersecurity, 2nd year, Informatics and Data Technologies, 2nd Bologna-level courses (Master, graduate), Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Maribor.
• Cyber and Network Security, study program Information Activity Coordinator, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor.
• Advanced Data Protection, PhD study program Computer Science, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Maribor.
• User aspect of security, Media Communications, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Maribor.

Publications

• A full report can be found on COBISS.

CV

• A full CV is available in the attached document.