Cyber Forge

Infrastructure & Defense

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Role: Infrastructure Architect & Threat Analyst
Focus: Zero Trust, Threat Intelligence pipelines, System Hardening

Threat Intelligence & Advisory

Analyzing emerging threat vectors and proactively designing countermeasures. By treating security as a foundational engineering constraint rather than an afterthought, I help organizations maintain resilience against sophisticated, multi-stage attacks.

>Implementation of generalized SOC strategies tailored for mid-market architectures.
>Analysis of nation-state APT TTPs and mapping defensive controls to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

Infrastructure Optimization

System administration isn't just about keeping the lights on. It is about understanding the intricate dependencies of modern cloud-native architectures. I focus heavily on automation, infrastructure as code (IaC), and immutable deployments. Working closely with Linux kernel tuning, high-availability PostgreSQL tuning, and rigorous network access controls.

Enterprise Security Deployments

Beyond architectural theory, my work involves the hands-on deployment, maintenance, and scaling of heavyweight enterprise security platforms across highly complex environments.

CyberArk & Vendor PAM

Implementation and management of Privileged Access Management (PAM), including robust credential vaulting and stringent vendor access controls.

Forescout NAC

Maintaining Network Access Control (NAC) to enforce strict endpoint compliance policies and ensure rogue devices are instantly isolated.

Axonius

Leveraging Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM) to achieve total visibility over our infrastructure matrix and security coverage gaps.

Entrust 2FA

Hardening the identity perimeter by engineering and maintaining comprehensive Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) architectures.

CyberArk & Vendor PAM

Internal PAM Deployments

Overview & Impact

A Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution designed to secure, manage, and monitor privileged accounts across our enterprise infrastructure.

Challenges

Migrating legacy systems without breaking dependent automation scripts and ensuring smooth adoption across legacy application owners.

Learning Areas

Mastering secret rotation algorithms, credential vaulting architectures, and the intricacies of Just-in-Time (JIT) administrative access models.

Exciting Moments

Watching automated credential rotation seamlessly hit hundreds of edge servers in a single night without dropping a single active connection, validating the system's reliability at scale.

Vendor PAM Rollout

ONGOING IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation

Currently architecting and executing the rollout of CyberArk Remote Access for vendors. The objective is to eliminate lateral VPN access for third-parties entirely. Utilizing strict zero-trust principles to grant Just-in-Time, session-isolated access directly via biometric-secured browser gateways (HTML5).

Challenges

Designing workflows that enforce rigorous security—like mandatory session recording, step-up authentication, and multi-tier approval workflows—without introducing massive friction that stalls critical third-party maintenance tasks.

Learning Areas

Navigating secure tunnel architecture, mobile-based biometric token syncing via CyberArk Mobile, and optimizing HTML5 proxy performance for high-latency SSH and RDP sessions over HTTPS.

Expected Outcomes

The total eradication of standing VPN permissions for external vendors, combined with the full auditability of every keystroke and click performed by contractors within the environment.

Forescout NAC

What It Is

A Network Access Control solution providing real-time visibility across all connected devices (IT, IoT, OT) and enforcing compliance before allowing endpoint network traversal.

Challenges

Transitioning from passive monitoring to active enforcement. Doing this network-wide without accidentally quarantine critical but legacy devices requires extensive profiling and whitelisting.

Learning Areas

Deepened understanding of 802.1X protocols, dynamic VLAN segmentation, and crafting multi-layered enforcement policies.

Exciting Moments

Watching the dashboard alert and instantly isolate a rogue, unauthorized device the moment it was patched into an unprotected physical port.

Axonius CAASM

What It Is

Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management that aggregates data from hundreds of existing security tools to give a unified, correlated view of every asset and its security posture.

Challenges

Reconciling severe data discrepancies between different platforms (e.g., AD reporting a device as active while the EDR says it's dead / unlicensed).

Learning Areas

Extensive API polling optimization. Normalizing complex JSON payloads and structuring aggressive correlation queries to find security gaps.

Exciting Moments

Creating a query that surfaced a hidden segment of virtual machines completely missing endpoint telemetry—and subsequently patching that blind spot.

Entrust 2FA

What It Is

An enterprise Multi-Factor Authentication ecosystem enforcing identity verification across VPNs, portals, and critical legacy applications to prevent credential-based takeovers.

Challenges

Handling edge cases where legacy systems do not natively support modern SAML/OIDC federations and require convoluted RADIUS configurations.

Learning Areas

In-depth RADIUS proxy setups, identity federation, and hybrid hardware/software token synchronization flows.

Exciting Moments

Deploying frictionless push-notification MFA on a notoriously difficult core system, reducing helpdesk tickets and vastly improving security simultaneously.

Zero Trust Philosophy

Assume breach. Never trust, always verify. My advisory work strongly emphasizes moving away from legacy castle-and-moat perimeter models towards strictly authenticated, identity-defined micro-perimeters.