Cybersecurity & Digital Forensics

Dr. Alessandro Trivilini is a computer engineer, holding a Master’s degree summa cum laude in Human Communication Technologies and a PhD awarded with honors by the Politecnico di Milano, specializing in artificial intelligence applied to the forensic domain. He gained extensive technical and scientific experience in Silicon Valley at InVision Technologies Inc., a leading company in X-ray systems for the detection of weapons and explosives in airport security. He has provided consultancy services to organizations involved in anti–money laundering activities and has been invited as a speaker at numerous national and international cybersecurity events, including the World Economic Forum in Davos (WEF), Caspian Week, the Swiss Cybersecurity Days, in close collaboration with Swisscom, and the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) Symposium in Wiesbaden (D), organized by the Swiss, German, and Austrian judicial authorities. On that occasion, he presented to senior law enforcement officials an engineering-based methodology for the analysis of complex cybercrime systems. He has also spoken at the Anti-Money Laundering Forum in Rome (I), with a focus on the Dark Web. 

After returning to Ticino from California, Dr. Trivilini began his two-decade-long professional career at the Department of Innovative Technologies (DTI) of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), which he helped develop in his role as a lecturer and researcher. Subsequently, in 2011, at the request of the SUPSI Executive Board, he founded the Digital forensics service (SIF) from the ground up, in close collaboration with the Department of Institutions of the Republic and Canton of Ticino, the judiciary, and the cantonal Police, and led it for fifteen years. 

Under the scientific and managerial leadership of Dr. Trivilini, the Digital forensics service (SIF) of SUPSI initiated, developed, and consolidated numerous strategic collaborations in the fields of cybersecurity and digital forensics with leading local and national judicial authorities, including the Federal Criminal Court (FCC), the Federal Office of Police (fedpol), Public Prosecutors’ Offices, and District Courts. These collaborations provided technical and scientific support for digital investigations, as well as tailored training programs. During the fifteen years in which he led the SIF, Dr. Trivilini conducted and coordinated hundreds of cybercrime cases of varying nature and complexity, achieving recognized results and full satisfaction among institutional and corporate clients. These cases included economic and financial crimes, theft of sensitive data, industrial espionage, countering online child sexual abuse material, and crimes against personal integrity. He is also active in cyber threat intelligence and in the secure and lawful monitoring of strategic information on the Dark Web on behalf of companies, organizations, and institutions.

Dr. Trivilini’s commitment and dedication to his work have played a decisive role in the sustained growth of the Digital forensics service (SIF) at SUPSI, fostering the expansion of both operational activities and its network of strategic partnerships. In recent years, the SIF has reached a major milestone with the establishment of a scientific research group of excellence, composed of nine interdisciplinary researchers. Under Dr. Trivilini’s leadership, over the past five years the group has secured competitive research projects in the fields of cybersecurity, digital forensics, and cyber intelligence, including transdisciplinary applications in the clinical and medical domain, with a total economic value of several million Swiss francs. These initiatives have generated significant regional impact in terms of job creation, patent development, and technological innovation. Funding was obtained through the Swiss Innovation Agency (Innosuisse), the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), as well as through direct service mandates.

Among the various institutional appointments entrusted to Dr. Trivilini over time, particular distinction is given to his nomination by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) as Switzerland’s delegate to the Management Committee of the European intergovernmental COST programme (Action CA16101). Within this European framework of scientific excellence, he coordinated a research group involving 20 countries, including Israel, focused on the study of biometric traces applied to cybersecurity and digital forensics. Subsequently, he was appointed by the Council of State of the Canton of Ticino as a member of the cantonal “Cyber Sicuro” task force, led by the Department of Institutions, in recognition of his scientific and operational expertise in the fields of cybersecurity and digital forensics.

From a young age, Dr. Trivilini developed a strong sense of responsibility and commitment to public service, engaging in volunteer work for over thirty years as a volunteer firefighter. 

From the outset of his career, Dr. Trivilini developed a strong team-oriented mindset, further strengthened through significant competitive experience in water polo at Serie A level and with the Swiss national water polo team. This path is grounded in core values such as collaboration, humility, respect, and discipline. 

Comprehensive expert forensic support in judicial proceedings, both civil (liability) and criminal (negligence). Digital forensic analysis activities on compromised systems, aimed at reconstructing events, collecting digital evidence, and supporting investigations and incident response. 

Support for the definition of data governance and AI agent governance, as well as for the assessment of security measures to ensure the protection of sensitive information, regulatory compliance, and the development of an incident response plan (see the updated NIST Cybersecurity Framework for AI). 

Forensic blockchain analysis activities aimed at identifying transactional patterns, digital identities, and mapping digital assets, in support of the prevention of fraud, money laundering, and other illicit activities. 

Cyber threat intelligence activities aimed at identifying and preventing cyber threats, along with the secure and lawful monitoring of the Dark Web to detect compromised sensitive data related to companies, institutions, and politically exposed persons (PEPs). 

Specialized technical and forensic consultancy focused on the assessment of residual cyber risk, aimed at ensuring—at a preventive stage, adequate corporate insurance coverage in relation to continuously evolving cyber vulnerabilities and risks, as well as expert forensic analysis of claims in the post-incident phase. 

Malware analysis activities on digital devices (computers, smartphones, and tablets) aimed at identifying malicious code, compromise techniques, and attack vectors, in support of investigations and corporate information security. 

Design and development of forensic protocols for the secure and transparent processing of sensitive data through artificial intelligence, based applications, in support of regulatory compliance (governance) in the areas of security, ethics, and privacy, with a strong focus on data and service sovereignty. 

Assessment and analysis activities of artificial intelligence algorithms and models aimed at ensuring transparency, traceability, and reliability, with a focus on mitigating dual-use risks and on the ethical and secure use of data (see the updated NIST Cybersecurity Framework for AI).