5 Minutes with...William Bartram, General Manager of PCA Cyber Security and Managing Director of the German entity in Munich

Please briefly introduce yourself and PCA Cyber Security.

I’m William Bartram, General Manager of PCA Cyber Security and Managing Director of our German entity in Munich. I’ve spent over 20 years in executive cybersecurity roles across companies like Cisco, IBM, HP, AT&T, and the SANS Institute, working at the intersection of financial services, threat intelligence, and connected mobility.

At PCA Cyber Security - an embedded-cybersecurity expert founded in Budapest in 2019 - I’m focused on scaling our global impact, helping financial services and payment platform organisations, alongside automotive and industrial clients, secure embedded systems and connected products through deep technical penetration testing and proactive threat intelligence. Europe invests heavily in IT cybersecurity, yet product security - particularly for embedded systems - lags critically behind. My role turns real-world research into practical security outcomes while building strategic partnerships across Europe.

Why did you choose to settle in Munich?

We’ve had a sales office in Munich for several years, but as our work with automotive, mobility, and FinTech customers grew, strengthening our on-the-ground presence became essential. Munich sits at the centre of Germany’s automotive and technology ecosystem - home to Security Network Munich and the Munich Cyber Security Conference - and aligns perfectly with the German Cyber Strategy and Cyber Nation Germany vision around resilience, innovation, and digital sovereignty. Being based here allows us to work closely with OEMs and Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers on safety- and security-critical systems, while contributing our expertise to building secure, sovereign digital technologies in Germany and across Europe.

What advantages do you see in a Bavarian location for your business?

Bavaria offers direct proximity to the world’s leading automotive OEMs and Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers - critical to our focus on embedded and product cybersecurity. Munich also serves as a prime gateway to FinTech and payment technology companies, enabling close collaboration with engineering, security, and decision-making teams across these high-stakes ecosystems.

The region blends deep industrial expertise, innovation, and a robust security mindset, making it ideal for supporting clients on complex, safety-critical systems.

Who are your most important partners? Which industries benefit from your solutions? 

We work closely with leading global organisations such as Adyen, Castles Technology, Elli from the Volkswagen Group, and NTT Data, as well as several major manufacturers whose names we cannot disclose. Our solutions are used primarily in the automotive, financial services, and payment technology sectors, and are increasingly used in energy and industrial environments. 

These are safety-critical industries where cybersecurity failures can have real-world consequences, and our role is to help organisations protect embedded systems, connected products, and critical infrastructure by addressing both security and safety risks in parallel. 

At which trade fairs can we meet PCA?

In 2026, we will attend the Munich Cyber Security Conference and have a booth at FIBE 2026, April, in Berlin. We are also hoping we will be present at this year's IT-SA with the support of Invest in Bavaria. And there are still some other industry events under discussion.

What drives PCA forward?

What drives PCA forward is the belief that real security goes beyond compliance. Regulations matter, but they’re just the starting point.

Our motivation: making the world genuinely more secure by understanding real-world system failures. We combine advanced security research, hands-on penetration testing, and continuous threat intelligence - enabling customers to shift from reacting to risks to anticipating them.