I’m Alexius Diakogiannis, a software architect who builds secure, resilient systems for banks and EU institutions, and the person behind The Dark Side of IT. I write and speak about what AI is doing to trust, truth and security, and what engineers can actually do about it.
What I do today
I’m a Senior Solutions Architect and Squad Lead at the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg. My work sits where architecture, AI and security meet: designing systems that hold up under real load, real attackers and real regulation.
I hold two master’s degrees: one in Artificial Intelligence, and one in Information Security & Digital Forensics.
How I got here
I started out as an IT consultant and core banking engineer. Early on, I designed an enterprise service bus architecture that let two banks exchange transactions in real time, and I worked on e-banking platforms. More than fifteen years later, I’m still drawn to the same question: how do systems that handle money and trust behave when things go wrong?
Java has been a constant throughout. I’ve been part of JCrete, the Java unconference in Crete, since 2016, and I write about the JVM. Examples include my 10-year guide to Java garbage collection, first published on foojay.io, and a deep dive into virtual threads and Project Loom.
The Dark Side of IT
The Dark Side of IT is my series on the parts of technology that don’t make it into the keynote: how systems really break, how they get attacked, and what AI is quietly changing about how we work and learn. It runs as a column in Netweek magazine and as this newsletter, read by more than 1,200 engineers.
Speaking
I speak at developer conferences across Europe and beyond. Recent talks:
- The Darkside of AI: Risks and Realities – Voxxed Days Luxembourg 2025 (watch)
- Preventing Security Vulnerabilities in a Web Application – Devoxx Morocco 2023
- The Stay or Return Dilemma for Professionals in Greece – Main panel, Open Conf 2023 (watch)
- JCrete – participant since 2016
- Many more
Slides from my talks are on Speaker Deck. Want me to speak at your event? Get in touch.
Community
- Founding member and administrator of Greece’s largest developers and designers group, with more than 18,000 members
- Board member of cultural and professional organisations in Athens, Luxembourg and Paris
- Former PrestaShop Ambassador for Greece (Ambassador of the Month, April 2018)
Find me elsewhere
You may also find me as Alexius Dionysius Diakogiannis, Alexius Dennis Diakogiannis, Alexios Diakogiannis, or in Greek as Αλέξιος Διακογιάννης.