Finland’s telecommunications sector underpins everything from consumer connectivity and enterprise cloud adoption to national critical infrastructure resilience. Telecom operators and network providers sit at the intersection of digital trust, regulatory pressure, and geopolitical cyber risk. Security leaders in this environment are not just defending corporate IT. They are safeguarding nationwide communications, enabling secure digital services, and shaping how resilient next-generation networks are built.
The cybersecurity leaders below stand out for combining strategic oversight with deep technical credibility in one of the most security-sensitive industries in the country.
Tarja Miikki — Director, Chief Information Security Officer, Head of Cyber and Information Security, Telia
Tarja Miikki brings extensive leadership experience across information technology delivery, architecture, and business support systems into her role as Director and Chief Information Security Officer at Telia Finland. Having previously led national information technology delivery and core sales and channel technology functions, she understands telecommunications operations from the inside out. That operational depth strengthens her security leadership, aligning cyber and information security strategy with large-scale service delivery, digital channels, and complex telecom infrastructure. Her profile reflects a leader who bridges enterprise execution with critical infrastructure protection.
Teemu Mäkelä — Chief Information Security Officer, Elisa
Teemu Mäkelä has built and scaled cybersecurity capabilities within one of Finland’s major telecom operators, embedding risk-based security decision-making into enterprise operations. As Chief Information Security Officer at Elisa, he established modern governance structures and strengthened security operations aligned with enterprise risk management. His leadership spans corporate security and anti-financial crime functions, reflecting a broad understanding of both cyber and operational risk in critical infrastructure environments. He represents the archetype of a telecom CISO who balances strategic advisory influence with operational accountability.
Mikko Kulmala — Head of Information Security, DNA Oyj
Mikko Kulmala oversees information security governance, risk management, and compliance at DNA Oyj, with responsibility for strengthening the Information Security Management System and ensuring alignment with ISO 27001. His role includes shaping security strategy, vendor requirements, and internal audit processes while advising on both information security and privacy matters. In a telecommunications context where supplier ecosystems are complex and regulatory expectations are high, this governance-centered leadership approach ensures security maturity evolves alongside business growth.
Kari Keinänen — Chief Information Security Officer, Lounea
Kari Keinänen brings more than two decades of executive leadership across technology, infrastructure, and international operations into his security role. His background includes large-scale organizational leadership, strategy execution, mergers and acquisitions experience, and business continuity oversight. In the telecommunications and infrastructure landscape, this breadth translates into a security leadership style focused on resilience, continuity, and executive-level alignment. His profile reflects a strategic CISO who connects cybersecurity with long-term business sustainability.
Umair Bukhari — Director Cybersecurity Strategic Engagements, Ericsson
Umair Bukhari operates at the intersection of telecom product security, vulnerability coordination, and global cyber resilience. With leadership experience in product security incident response and coordinated vulnerability disclosure, he has contributed to strengthening secure development lifecycle processes across large telecom portfolios. His work spans vulnerability management, regulatory collaboration, and strategic engagement with national and industry stakeholders. In a telecommunications industry shaped by evolving standards and global threat intelligence, his role highlights the importance of product-level security leadership alongside operator-focused defense.
Marko Haarala — Security Lead Finland & Baltics, CISO Advisor, CISCO
Marko Haarala focuses on modern security architectures including Security Orchestration, Automation and Response, Extended Detection and Response, Secure Access Service Edge, and Zero Trust frameworks. As a regional security lead and advisor, he bridges technical security engineering with customer-facing strategic guidance. His expertise in managed detection and response services and security operations modernization reflects the evolution of telecom security from perimeter defense to integrated, intelligence-driven ecosystems. His leadership underscores the growing importance of advanced detection, automation, and cloud-aligned security models in telecommunications.
Securing the Backbone of Digital Society
Telecommunications security is national security. From mobile networks and fiber infrastructure to cloud-integrated services and enterprise connectivity, the leaders featured here operate in environments where outages, breaches, or vulnerabilities have immediate and widespread impact.
The CISOs and cybersecurity leaders in Finland’s telecommunications industry stand out for building resilient governance models, embedding security into infrastructure and product design, and aligning technical defense with strategic business and regulatory demands. In a sector that forms the backbone of digital society, their leadership defines what secure connectivity looks like at scale.