Simona Toader
Sr. Global Black Belt @Microsoft
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Tech Enthusiast, Cloud Advocate, Speaker
Simona is a Global Black Belt Specialist at Microsoft, with 10+ years of experience in the tech industry focusing on cloud and software development. She is working with customers to harness the power of GitHub, AI and Azure to boost productivity, improve SDLC, and deliver secure products faster. With a passion for cloud and DevSecOps, Simona is an active member of tech communities, driving innovation and making tech work smarter, not harder.
Area of Expertise
Topics
Building Software with AI Done Right
Go beyond simple prompts and unlock the full potential of AI-driven development with GitHub Copilot. Vibe coding is great for quick prototypes, but getting real software into production requires discipline, strategy, and advanced workflows. In this session, we’ll dive into spec-driven development, agentic workflows, and proven practices for building secure, scalable software. Gain insights and actionable guidance on how to turn AI-assisted coding into a structured, repeatable process that delivers production-ready results.
The Breach Stops Here: End-to-End Threat Detection for DevSecOps
Today’s threats come from every corner of your software supply chain - leaked secrets, vulnerable dependencies, misconfigured infrastructure, suspicious developer behavior, and yes, the occasional rogue deployment. These risks demand a unified, intelligent approach that brings security into every phase of the development lifecycle. In this session, we’ll explore how GitHub Advanced Security, Microsoft Defender, and Microsoft Sentinel work together to detect, correlate, and respond to threats across your entire development and cloud environment.
This session is for anyone who’s tired of chasing bugs, blind to breaches, or buried in alerts. Whether you're a developer, security analyst, or platform engineer, this session will show you how to shift security left, unify your SecOps workflows, and reduce risk with intelligent automation and AI-driven insights.
Platform Engineering: Delivering Developer Experience with Speed, Scale, and Self-Service
Built on DevOps foundations, platform engineering is redefining how modern engineering teams build, scale, and support software delivery. This session explores how platform engineering enhances developer experience by reducing friction, streamlining infrastructure, and enabling self-service access to tools and environments—all while maintaining strong security and governance.
Key components of a successful engineering platform will be covered, including application platforms, reusable templates, and golden paths. The session will highlight practical strategies for getting started with platform engineering, with a focus on automation, toolchain optimization, and real-world examples from the Microsoft and GitHub ecosystem.
The AI-Powered Development Era: GitHub Copilot and the Rise of AI Agents
Software development has entered a new era - one where code is no longer written line by line, but co-created with AI. What once took hours of manual effort is now accelerated by intelligent tools that understand context, anticipate intent, and streamline the entire development lifecycle.
This session explores how GitHub Copilot and agents are fundamentally transforming the way applications are designed, built, and maintained. GitHub Copilot is not just assisting with code - it’s redefining how development is done, from writing and reviewing code to managing backlogs and beyond.
Securing Code in the Age of AI
AI is changing the way we write software, but it’s also changing the way we need to secure it. As developers embrace AI-assisted coding, new risks emerge: from accidental exposure of secrets to introducing vulnerabilities. In this session, we’ll explore practical strategies and guardrails to keep your codebase safe in an AI-driven world. We'll cover how to integrate security into your workflows, enforce compliance without slowing down innovation, and build a culture where speed and safety go hand in hand. Walk away with actionable techniques to detect risks early, automate secure practices, and ensure your AI-powered development doesn’t compromise trust.
Platform Engineering in the age of AI
With the rise of AI agents, MCP-based tools, and autonomous DevOps workflows, we’ll explore how AI is transforming platform engineering and what it takes to build secure, scalable, and developer-friendly platforms in this new era.
In this session, we’ll cover how to:
- Integrate various tools into your internal developer platforms without creating chaos
- Balance speed with governance, security, and compliance
- Design workflows that empower developers while maintaining control and reliability
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