An Gaiser

An Gaiser is a Forensic Behavioral expert, Investigative Interviewer and Author of “Verborgen Signalen" ("Hidden Signals"). Her GIN-method: a practice-based framework combining behavioral analysis, interactional awareness, and non-verbal intelligence.

With over 23 years of experience, she served with the Probation service, as well as the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), and worked in forensic compliance at KPMG. She now trains, coaches and consults global security and compliance teams in high-stakes communication, resistance handling, and strategic interviewing.

An’s work bridges psychological insight with operational clarity, helping professionals stay cognitively sharp under pressure and decode what others miss, even before a word is spoken.


Session

09-05
16:10
30min
Flooding the Zone: Emotional Hijack, AI Bias & Critical Thinking in Cybersecurity
An Gaiser

In an era of information warfare, social engineering is no longer limited to isolated phishing emails. It’s about overwhelming minds. From misinformation to algorithmic overload, cyber professionals today face a new form of threat: emotional hijack. In this session, former intelligence officer and behavioral analyst An Gaiser unpacks how this invisible attack vector works, and how it hijacks more than just attention.

Using real-world examples from counter-terrorism, security screening, and AI-driven profiling systems, An reveals how "flooding the zone" disables our critical thinking and activates deep behavioral responses (fight, flight, freeze, affiliate). We will explore how this impacts decision-making in cybersecurity teams, especially in moments of ambiguity or pressure.

This talk challenges common assumptions in the security field, including outdated emotion recognition models still used in AI tools, and offers a grounded framework for detecting, interpreting, and de-escalating emotional flooding, both in ourselves and others.

Expect a mix of behavioral science, real-world intelligence cases, and practical takeaways you can use in your daily work. Whether you're a red teamer probing human error, a blue teamer navigating stress signals, or a leader seeking clarity in chaos: this session will give you a new lens to detect the invisible and stay cognitively sharp under pressure.

Main track
Main track