Grethe Østby

Grethe Østby is an Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), affiliated with the Department of Information Security and Communication Technology within the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. Her research focuses on cybersecurity, crisis management, and socio-technical frameworks addressing incident response resilience and organizational learning. She has published extensively on topics such as digital transformation in public security, EXCON-teams in cybersecurity training, and maturity modeling for cyber crisis preparedness.

Her work emphasizes bridging socio-technical gaps through frameworks that integrate organizational practices with technical systems. Notable contributions include doctoral research on triple-loop learning artifacts for public emergency organizations and case studies on phishing attack mitigation in municipalities. She collaborates with institutions like NATO and contributes to cybersecurity education via courses like IIKG6503 and IMT4115.

Grethe’s outreach activities include public discussions on cyber threats and incident response reporting, such as the analysis of the cyberattack on Østre Toten municipality. Her research bridges theoretical models with practical applications, addressing both technical vulnerabilities and human factors in cybersecurity.

Collaborations with researchers like Stewart James Kowalski and Basel Katt highlight her interdisciplinary approach to gerontechnology service design, IoT forensics, and crisis management roles in public sectors. Her publications span academic journals, conference proceedings, and doctoral theses, reflecting a commitment to advancing cybersecurity preparedness through systemic and human-centric solutions.