Kal Biswas
Verified Expert in Engineering
Solutions Architect and Developer
Maidenhead, United Kingdom
Toptal member since October 12, 2022
Kal is an architect with 28+ years of experience in a broad spectrum of technologies, including information security and identity and access governance and management domains. He has profound skills in identity as a service (IDaaS), protocols for federated identity such as OIDC and SAML, and biometric multi-factor authentication. Kal also specializes in next-gen technologies, verifiable credentials, self-sovereign identity, DevOps, IaC, and CI/CD patterns.
Portfolio
Experience
- LDAP - 20 years
- Security - 20 years
- IBM Tivoli Access Manager (TAM) - 20 years
- Identity & Access Management (IAM) - 19 years
- SAML - 18 years
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 7 years
- Okta - 6 years
- Azure - 4 years
Preferred Environment
Linux, MacOS, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Xcode, Docker Compose, Kubernetes, MongoDB, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Okta
The most amazing...
...thing I've run is a POC to secure a tax portal for a European government covering 20 million tax-paying entities, simulating a peak load of 20,000 sessions.
Work Experience
Cloud Security Architect
Self Employed
- Architected and delivered B2B identity broker solution covering multiple business entities acting as application providers as well as application consumers via standard federation protocols like SAML and OpenID Connect (OIDC).
- Built and managed an Auth0 private tenant for a highly regulated industry (HRI) scenario involving multiple system integrators (SIs) and UK Government agencies.
- Designed and implemented API security in a machine-to-machine authorisation scenario going across disparate business entities.
- Delivered operational model for the production phase of the project.
- Developed integration patterns for future onboarding of new providers of applications and identities to expand the ecosystem of providers and consumers.
- Integrated identity providers like Azure Entra ID and AWS IAM Identity Center for the identity broker architecture.
- Created test plans for end-to-end integration testing, covering multiple providers and consumers.
Senior Solutions Architect
Keyless
- Integrated and documented Keyless biometric MFA solution for Salesforce and a host of IDaaS vendors: PingOne, ForgeRock Identity Cloud, OneLogin, Amazon Cognito, and Auth0.
- Created public documentation and instructional videos about Keyless solutions.
- Ran multiple projects to integrate Keyless MFA solutions to customer applications using mobile SDK for iOS and Android and OIDC and SAML protocols.
Advisor Solution Architect
DXC Technology
- Implemented MFA for a bank in the UK to enable access via Cisco AnyConnect VPN.
- Contributed to a solution architecture proposal that was part of an RFI response for a government client to leverage verifiable credentials and SSI technologies for citizens' access.
- Delivered a cyber maturity review for a client in the defense industry and privileged access to IT resources for employees.
- Played a key role in building an IDaaS solution for workforce IAM for a client in the insurance industry.
- Contributed to an identity governance solution leveraging SailPoint IdentityIQ for a client in the defense industry.
Architect
Self-employed
- Migrated an on-premise CIAM solution to an insurance client's virtual appliance-based infrastructure.
- Delivered an access management solution, workforce IAM, for a major client in the transportation sector, leveraging the IBM Access Management suite of products.
- Migrated workforce IAM to IDaaS solution in Okta for a client in the insurance industry.
Senior Solutions Architect
RSA
- Oversaw the architecture and deployment of an identity governance solution for a bank in Belgium, starting from a proof of concept and pilot-to-production rollout using Aveksa and RSA Identity Governance products.
- Contributed to an identity governance solution for a bank in Germany.
- Worked actively on an identity governance solution for a pension fund in the Netherlands.
Senior Consultant and Architect
IBM
- Used the federated identity manager to work with early users of identity federation protocols SAML, WS-Federation, WS-Trust, and OpenID.
- Contributed to access management and CIAM solutions for a few major European banks based in Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Turkey.
- Built an identity provisioning and management solution on the IBM Security Identity Manager product suite for a few European customers from Denmark, the UK, Belgium, Turkey, and Spain.
Experience
Passwordless Biometric MFA for Salesforce
Biometric Passwordless Authentication for Gaming Industry
Identity Broker Implementation
Education
Master's Degree in Computer Science
Johns Hopkins University - Baltimore, MD, USA
Master's Degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, and Manufacturing
Indian Institute of Management - Ahmedabad, India
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay - Mumbai, India
Certifications
AWS Certified AI Practitioner Early Adopter
Amazon Web Services
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator
Amazon Web Services
Certified Calico Operator: Level 1
Tigera
AWS Certified Security - Specialty
Amazon Web Services
AWS Certified Developer – Associate
Amazon Web Services Training and Certification
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
Amazon Web Services Training and Certification
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Node.js, RADIUS, Auth0 API, Auth0 Management API v2
Tools
IBM WebSEAL, Docker Compose, Xcode, Confluence, Jira, SailPoint, IBM DataPower, Amazon Cognito, Auth0, AWS IAM, Amazon SageMaker
Languages
SAML, C++98, C, Java, Swift 5, Objective-C, C++, TypeScript, Python
Paradigms
Web Application Architecture, DevOps, DevSecOps, Object-oriented Programming (OOP)
Industry Expertise
Cybersecurity
Frameworks
OAuth 2, iOS SDK, TOGAF, COBIT, React Native
Platforms
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Linux, MacOS, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Kubernetes, IBM WebSphere, Jupyter Notebook, JBoss, MuleSoft, Duo, AWS Lambda, iOS, Adobe Experience Platform
Storage
MongoDB, Databases, IBM Db2, Oracle 9g, Database Security, Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID
Other
Okta, OpenID Connect (OIDC), SAML-auth, LDAP, IBM Tivoli Access Manager (TAM), Identity & Access Management (IAM), Security, Single Sign-on (SSO), Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), User Authentication, Security Architecture, Application Security, IT Security, Architecture, Cloud Architecture, Active Directory (AD), Distributed Software, Decision Support Systems (DSS), Programming, Agile DevOps, Aveksa, IBM Tivoli Identity Manager (TIM), Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), Active Directory Federation, Active Directory Synchronization, Web Security, Web App Security, Mobile App Security, Web Application Firewall (WAF), Data Security, Data Governance, Authentication, iOS Authentication, Cloud, APIs, PKI, Project Calico, AWS IAM Identity Center, AWS Managed Microsoft AD, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, ServiceNow, Boto3, Parquet, AWS Identity and Access Management, AWS IAM Access analyser, AWS Security Hub, High-level Design (HLD), Low-Level Design (LLD), AWS Secrets Manager, AWS Certificate Manager
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