
Israel Guzman
Verified Expert in Engineering
Cybersecurity Architect and Threat Intelligence Lead Developer
Isra is a cybersecurity architect and threat intelligence lead with over 13 years of experience. He specialized in dark web monitoring for seven years and is an expert in data collection, analysis, framework development, and reporting. A highly skilled cybersecurity professional with a proven track record of success and 21 years of IT expertise, Isra is also an active participant in ethical hacker events and conferences.
Portfolio
Experience
Availability
Preferred Environment
Cybersecurity, Threat Intelligence, Zero-day Vulnerabilities, Incident Response, Bug Triage
The most amazing...
...Bug Bounty Hunter awards I received were Top 25 and Hall of Fame in 2018 by AT&T, then winning hackathons with the HackerOne platform as "akax."
Work Experience
Spanish-speaking IT Security Expert
Tienda Amiga ER S.A.
- Configured, managed, and troubleshot Cisco ASA, Cisco Catalyst 2960 switch, and Router 2901, 3560 L3 y 4321. SPI, DPI, apps, URL filter, IDS/IPS, IAM, threat intel, Umbrella, etc.
- Configured, managed, and troubleshot Meraky AP MR53 and MR46 protection against denial-of-service attacks. Worked with WPA2-Enterprise, guest access, RADIUS, and SNMP.
- Configured, managed, and troubleshot Fortinet Firewalls Fortigate 60F HA, VPN, IDS, IPS, and content web filter.
Board Member | USA and LAC
SkyVirt
- Handled projects related to Cyber Range based on the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
- Collected and analyzed threat intelligence data from various internal and external sources, such as social media, open-source intelligence, and dark web monitoring.
- Developed and maintained a comprehensive threat intelligence framework that includes threat modeling, identification, prioritization, and mitigation strategies.
- Collaborated with other security teams, such as incident response and security operations, ensuring threat intelligence integration within the workflows.
- Delivered threat intelligence reports, briefings, and presentations to senior leadership and other stakeholders to communicate the current threat landscape and provide actionable insights.
- Stayed up-to-date with the latest threat intelligence trends, technologies, and tools to respond to emerging threats.
Security Researcher | Bug Bounty Hunter | Hacker101 Capture the Flag (CTF) Player
HackerOne
- Received two honors from HackerOne and AT&T (2018 and 2019): https://ctf.hacker101.com.
- Earned 13 invitations and 3/26 points toward my next private program invitation and placed among the top three in Colombia in 2020: https://hackerone.com/att/thanks/2018 and https://hackerone.com/akax/year-in-review.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
- Reported and helped to fix several vulnerabilities in Okta's products and services. Participated in Okta's bug bounty programs.
- Attained a deep understanding of Okta's architecture and security features. Used my experience in using various bug bounty tools and techniques to make Okta more secure for companies.
- Found and reported several vulnerabilities in Okta's products and services. Worked with the Okta security team to remediate vulnerabilities and improve security. Shared knowledge and expertise with other security researchers.
Chief Information Security Officer
Katharsis
- Implemented a secure data center while working in a freelance capacity.
- Installed a Cisco firewall for IP security, VPN, and site-to-site VPN.
- Protected devices and networks with Sophos security solutions.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
- Gained experience with firewalls, including Cisco ASA, Palo Alto Networks, and Fortinet. Became proficient in configuring, managing, and troubleshooting firewalls. Accumulated experience in network on-premises and cloud projects.
Director and Principal Consultant
TI
- Provided a full range of cybersecurity services: research, threat intelligence, monitoring and cyber surveillance of national critical information infrastructure (NCII), network protection, penetration testing, and ethical hacking.
- Consulted on forensic investigation, bug bounty, DevSecOps, cloud computing, blockchain, machine learning, and AI. Provided support and training.
- Delivered training programs: Creating Disruptive Differentiation with Innovation Management; The Fundamentals of Cybersecurity and IT Security; Cybersecurity and Secure IT Infrastructure, from Policies to Technology and IT Operations.
- Became an IT Geek Trusted Advisor and delivered courses for the chief information security officer (CISO).
- Spoke on Gartner's Nexus of Forces, describing how the convergence and mutual strengthening of social media, mobility, cloud computing, and information patterns create new business opportunities.
- Leveraged areas of expertise to advise clients: security, ethical hacking, and cybersecurity; web application security, network security, and application security; ransomware and malware; DeepWeb, DarkNet, ZeroNet, ZeroDay, and Exploit.
- Provided risk advisory services to the open web application security project (OWASP).
- Advised clients on cloud security and a law enforcement agency on cybercrime and cyber investigation.
- Served as an active member in the information security community of the current cyberspace.
- Led cross-functional teams throughout the entire SDLC.
Senior Security Engineer
- Joined Pinterest as an active member of the security operations, in charge of PII, SOX, IAM, GMT, and S3 policy management.
- Implemented secure changes with Terraform and Phabricator.
- Supervised Splunk daily to avoid security breaches and threats.
- Worked with Palo Alto Networks firewalls and configured the GlobalProtect.
- Integrated Active Directory, GitHub, GMT, holograms, certificates, and YubiKey within Okta across the entire infrastructure.
- Designed, implemented, and managed Okta-based IAM solutions for enterprise customers, using SSO, MFA, and strong authentication to improve security, reduce risk, and streamline operations.
Senior Security Engineer
Bloomberg Industry Group - Main
- Automated AWS security vulnerabilities mitigation using AWS Lambda function with Python 3 and Boto 3.
- Tracked and fixed requests using Jira for issues, escalations, incidents, software review requests, and security vulnerabilities.
- Automated and Integrated the mitigation of vulnerabilities from the Rapid 7 suite with Jira.
- Created multiple wikis of management and procedures daily.
- Automated and integrated vulnerability mitigation from AWS Guard Duty and AWS Inspector with Jira.
- Improved the automation of the Threat Intel channel, adding more sources, translating on the way, and passing filtered to the main channel.
- Integrated AWS, Atlassian, and Okta within the entire infrastructure.
- Designed, implemented, and managed Okta-based IAM solutions for enterprise customers. Integrated Okta with other systems to create secure and efficient authentication infrastructure.
- Conducted security assessments and audits to identify and mitigate risks associated with Okta and implemented security best practices and industry standards.
DevSecOps Consultant
Palo IT
- Centralized identity management and assigned permissions transversally.
- Configured VPN to segregate access individually and gather traffic logs.
- Automated CI/CD pipelines to deploy QA and ephemeral staging environments.
- Identified customer transactions that used more infrastructure and reduced the DevSecOps workload.
- Deployed a CDN and high availability in specific zones.
- Automated vulnerability analysis for infrastructure and applications and prevented a sensitive data leak.
- Recommended code reviews and automated testing solutions. Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
- Created vulnerability management solutions (VMs) capable of integrating with any 3rd party in the industry to provide an all-in-one solution with a unique dashboard.
- Designed, implemented, and managed secure IAM solutions, including SSO, MFA, and strong authentication. Integrated Okta with Active Directory, GitHub, and more to create a unified authentication infrastructure.
- Integrated Azure Active Directory, SonarQube with Okta, and certificates within the entire infrastructure.
Chief Information Security Officer
Zaga Labs
- Implemented a secure data center with IP security while serving as a freelance external advisor.
- Installed pfSense firewall security, OpenVPN, and site-to-site VPN.
- Ensured that security measures protected perimeters and rejected attackers.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
System Security Engineer and Architect
University of Arizona
- Worked for Arizona State University (Asu.edu) on compliance (PCI, FISMA, HIPAA, etc.), authentication and authorization, DIDs, entities IDs, identities, credentials, and meta-credentials.
- Performed cryptography, data protection, Sovrin Governance Framework, Hyperledger Indy decentralized key management, trustee set up protocol, wallet storage design, permissions and rules, CORS and source code, SAST, DAST, and AutoDevSecOps.
- Handled mobile device security enforcement, prevented reverse engineering of the Pocket app, and worked on data source encryption and data transfer encryption in transit, PeopleSoft, databases, and APIs.
- Affected and managed PII masking in real time, OTP, QR codes, and Libindy while working with reports access and endpoints, servers, and mail servers.
IT Operations and Security Supervisor
Visa
- Provided the knowledge required to follow and adhere to PCI DSS compliance frameworks and helped to obtain the SOC Level 2 certification, following the security requirements and standards.
- Used a wide range of tools, including SumLogic, Qualys, Mandiant, SolarWinds, Falco, mobile financial banking; PCI RoC/SOC2 Type II; CloudFlare, Sumo Logic; Mandiant, Qualys, DefectDojo, Check Point, Check Point CloudGuard, Dome9, and SilverSky.
- Identified systemic security issues based on the analysis of vulnerability and configuration data. Enabled the organization to reduce risks and achieve regulatory and statutory compliance.
- Implemented security measures to resolve vulnerabilities, mitigate risks, and recommend security changes to systems or system components as needed.
- Collaborated with functional and cross-functional teams and stakeholders to identify and/or develop appropriate solution designs, implementation, and required mitigation strategies.
- Managed multiple technologies for mobile financial banking and chaos engineering with the Chaos toolkit and Istio. Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
- Used a wide range of technologies: Snyck, Dependabot, Sonatype DepShield; Trend Micro, Symantec, Sophos; Google Cloud GCP; K8S and Falco as a Daemon; and Sonarqube (dependency checks).
- Utilized Splunk; Jira and Trello; Veracode, Trustwave, Detectify, Mesh7, and Qualys; ProGuard, DexGuard, iXGuard; Bitbucket and Concourse; and DigiCert Central.
- Used Grafana Loki and Data Studio; MongoDB and MySQL; HAProxy and APIs; Gauntlt and Ruby for Vulnerability; and vulnerability management systems (VMS).
- Integrated BambooHR, Cloudflare, Udemy, Azure, Office 365, DefectDojo, Atlassian, ELK, Nagios, New Relic, SolarWinds, Slack, and external apps within Okta.
Chief Information Security Officer
Vycton
- Protected the University Foundation of the Andean Area while working as an external, freelance advisor.
- Implemented several Kaspersky Cybersecurity solutions.
- Implemented IBM Tivoli Storage Manager with data loss protection (DLP).
- Implemented Lenovo XClarity to protect the storage.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
Senior DevSecOps
FortifID
- Played a key role (as a contractor) in a DevSecOps and CloudUnit project for a US Silicon Valley-based customer. This involved working with SSN data providers, Equifax, Neustar, and Grain.
- Conducted black-box penetration testing and achieved SOC 2 certification.
- Implemented AutoDevOps CI/CD, using GitLab Gold and Kubernetes.
- Developed solutions for managing personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive data protection. The technologies used included AWS, Rapid7, Qualys, OpenVAS, Maltego, Burp Suite, and other penetration testing tools.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
- Migrated OneLogin to Okta, keeping all the existing integrations.
Cloud Senior Engineer
Globant
- Designed and deployed futurist projects related to information security for a wide range of companies (shown below). Prioritized and assigned tasks to a group of cybersecurity leaders.
- Implemented the Great Minds eLearning platform for Core Digital Systems (CDS), using Terraform, Ansible, and GitHub Actions over AWS.
- Developed a digital banking mobile app for iOS and Android for GNB Sudameris Bank.
- Co-developed solutions as a member of the EY core platform squad. These included the EY Blockchain Analyzer, Axiomatics, and others related to common capabilities and tax transparency.
- Designed the architecture and deployed, supported, maintained, protected, and secured the environments.
- Served as a cybersecurity advisor to C-level executives, stakeholders, and product owners who made decisions about solutions that addressed business goals and risks.
- Advised leadership, management, and less experienced cybersecurity leaders on solutions deployed in the environment for incidence responses related to threats, vulnerabilities, and compliance. Used Agile, Scrum, and Jira to address and track issues.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
Virtualization and Migration Engineer
Claro Colombia
- Led discovery and the RFP process to migrate VMware to Huawei Private Cloud FusionSphere for Global HITSS.
- Migrated HP ServiceManager Cloud BMC Remedy (Apache Tomcat), protected by security baselines, Qualys, Dynatrace, and SIEM.
- Implemented a chatbot offered by the Inbenta company.
- Managed operating systems: Oracle Solaris, Oracle RACDB, Red Hat, and Windows Server.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
Cloud Architect
BITS Americas S.A.S
- Migrated a 100% on-premise infrastructure to Azure for Flores Funza, while serving as the CISO at BITS Americas.
- Migrated to Office 365 for Flores Funza and Tannus, a legal services company.
- Set up an AWS ETL for Tigo Latam, a Millicom telecom company.
- Managed operating systems: Windows Server and Linux.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
Chief Information Security Officer
Bull Marketing
- Implemented a secure data center while working as a freelancer.
- Supported VPN, site-to-site VPN, IP security, and VoIP using Asterisk.
- Protected a secure website and email communication to prevent virus infections by bad actors.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
Security and Systems Administrator SME
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- Served as a capability administrator L4 for Pfizer, overseeing the ITO project delivery team, application hosting services (AHS) reporting group, and Intel on physical and virtual environments with VMware and Hyper-V.
- Owned responsibility for building and securing existing and new systems according to lifecycle capacity, always focusing on business continuity with an emphasis on finding the root cause and proper solutions for each daily case.
- Oversaw premium support for 400 servers, aligned with the overall infrastructure, ensuring that IT assets met the needs of corporate policies and continuously building strong professional relationships with key IT and LOB executives.
- Served as a subject matter expert for a Latin American internal assessment review (ITAM), corrective action and preventive action (CAPA), and problem and root cause analysis (RCA).
- Led ITSM change management 401 RFCs; conducted 12 pre-approved template reviews; and provided service incident management with response 2755 resolved and 1863 requested. Served as a configuration item owner and QA of 400 CIs under CMDB.
- Set up monthly BTI and daily infrastructure operations and amp reports for regional operative meetings with the global command center (GCC).
- Managed hardware self-sparing and product support case management. As an HPE Saba learner and HPE support case manager, I completed Power 2 Learn (126 courses) and learned manager and admin rooster roles.
- Experienced in Cisco ASA, Meraki, and VoIP. Troubleshot and configured security as SPI, DPI, app identification, URL filter, IDS/IPS, threat intel, cloud, network, DLP, remote access, web application, malware, Umbrella, etc.
- Performed security monitoring and analytics using HPE Service Center, Qualys, Nessus, MSB, SCCM, McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator 5.3 Intel Security, EMC Watch4Net, CA SysEdge, and eHealth. Merged three data centers into one.
- Managed the infrastructure: HPE servers, storage, Cisco switches, networking, blades, and backup solutions, HP Data Protector, and CA BrightStor ARCserve. The technologies were VMware, Linux ESx, Aix, HP-UX, Red Hat, and Windows Server.
Chief Information Security Officer
InTacto Comunicaciones
- Served as an external freelance advisor to InTacto Comunicaciones.
- Implemented a secure communication channel for the whole company using Microsoft Exchange.
- Deployed Symantec cybersecurity solutions to protect the network and devices.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
Chief Information Security Officer
Construcciones Obycon SAS
- Protected the network and devices with Kaspersky cybersecurity solutions.
- Enforced policies to prevent unauthorized access to the company's applications.
- Implemented Active Directory with GPO, using a Microsoft Windows Server.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
SysAdmin
SONDA
- Supported servers for 3M: HP ProLiant G7; HP EVA4400; HP MSL6000; Dell PowerEdge; AD; DHCP; DNS; GPO, SQL, Visual Studio Foundation; file, SharePoint, and IIS Servers; and SCCM.
- Implemented a new data center and DRP, covering VMWare, Lotus Domino 8, CA ARCserve, and HP Data Protector.
- Managed service requests from IBM TEC and the Remedy Helpdesk; supervised the dashboard server and PC support.
- Provided specialized support to VIP users, covering MOC Apple and BlackBerry.
- Supported deployment (Swimage) and McAfee Encryption. Provided regional level-one support, both onsite and remote.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
Chief Information Security Officer
Geosintéticos
- Implemented a secure way to manage all the IT devices while working as an external freelance advisor.
- Deployed a secure PHP web portal with a MySQL database.
- Implemented a secure communication channel for the whole company.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
SysAdmin
IBM
- Provided cybersecurity services for Avianca and Allianz.
- Served as a command center engineer, working with VMware, HP Data Protector, and BrightStor ARCserve, as well as change management.
- Provided tech support for Active Directory, Forefront, File Server, IIS, WSUS Updates and Cirats, Exchange 2007, Blackberry BES, Citrix high availability in multiple data centers, and accounting close.
- Ensured enforcement and control of interfaces in SAP, IIS, SQL, Adabas, SIS, Sharepoint, Test Director and ESM, Oracle, AIX, Hp-Ux, Tivoli TEC, HP Data Protector and Tivoli TSM, VIP, and the company's CNCs. Provided 7x24 second-level support.
- Managed operating systems: HP-UX- Aix, Oracle Solaris, Red Hat, and Windows Server.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
IT Specialist
Getronics
- Worked in the IT department at Movistar (Movistar.co/).
- Monitored data centers, Citrix clusters, and applications.
- Provided VIP support at a national level for Gtran devices and cellular data services.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
IT Analyst
Sitel Group
- Completed work for internal clients: Microsoft, Telecom, and HP.
- Supported network and communication solutions at a national level.
- Provided support and training for services such as VSAT, Clear Channel, and satellite connections.
- Created the intranet in PHP for internal management of those client companies.
- Led cross-functional teams through the entire SDLC.
Experience
Spyder Analytics
https://github.com/4k4xs4pH1r3The proof of concept included the following functions:
• Comprehensive operating system guesses.
• Uptime, ports, and service device types per host detection based on fingerprint matches.
• Vulnerabilities discovery based on network traceroutes and service versions on each port.
• Host footprinting based on TCP/IP sequence prediction and thumbprint over IPv4 and IPv6.
• Firewall and IDS evasion and spoofing with accurate miscellaneous options.
Startup Founder
Cyber Range | Author of Training at SkyVirt
https://cyberrange.skyvirt.tech/Basic modules:
• DevSecOps
• AutoDevSecOps, WSL2, SIEM, Kubernetes, and Docker
• Osint and Enumeration
• BugBounty
• Capture the Flag Competitions (CTFs)
• SQL Injection
• Cross-site Scripting (XSS)
• DDoS
Skills
Libraries/APIs
CyberSource
Tools
Splunk, Phabricator, Sumo Logic, Dome9
Paradigms
DevSecOps, HIPAA Compliance, Penetration Testing
Platforms
Blockchain, Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Windows Server, Kubernetes, QualysGuard, Burp Suite
Industry Expertise
Banking & Finance, Network Security, Cybersecurity
Storage
Database Security
Other
Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Growth Hacking, Culture Hacking, Threat Intelligence, System-on-a-Chip (SoC), IoC, SIEM, IDS/IPS, Zero-day Vulnerabilities, Incident Response, English, Indicator of Compromise (IOC), VSAT, Channels, Peer-to-peer Networking, Architecture, Innovation, FERPA Compliance, Self-sovereign Identity (SSI), SecOps, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), SOX, SOX Compliance, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Cryptography, Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), Encryption, Languages, Palo Alto Networks, CI/CD Pipelines, Ethical Hacking, APIs, Serverless, IOTA, Bug Triage, Networking, Quantum Computing, Digital Forensics, IT Project Management, PCI, SOC 2 Type 2, Mandiant, DefectDojo, Check Point CloudGuard, Rapid7 Solutions, Maltego, Troubleshooting, Programming, Security Architecture, Distributed Ledgers, Cyberlaw, Security Audits, Cisco, Fortinet Firewall Configuration, Okta
Languages
Python
Frameworks
OpenVAS
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
ECCI University - Bogotá, Colombia
Certifications
Web Security: Same-Origin Policies
Web Security: OAuth and OpenID Connect
Transitioning to a Career in Cybersecurity
Sophos Certified Sales Consultant
Sophos
Project 2019 and Project Online Professional Essential Training
Penetration Testing: Advanced Web Testing
Penetration Testing: Advanced Enumeration
OWASP Top 10: #9 Components with Known Vulnerabilities and #10 Insufficient Logging and Monitoring
Microsoft Cybersecurity Stack: Advanced Identity and Endpoint Protection
Learning Tor and the Dark Web
Learning Cyber Incident Response and Digital Forensics
Introduction to Quantum Computing
Insights from a Cybersecurity Professional
Extending, Securing, and Dockerizing Spring Boot Microservices
Ethical Hacking: The Complete Malware Analysis Process
Ethical Hacking: Penetration Testing
CompTIA PenTest+ (PT0-001): 5 Selecting Pen Testing Tools
CompTIA IT Fundamentals (FC0-U61) Cert Prep 3
CompTIA IT Fundamentals (FC0-U61) Cert Prep 2: Files and Applications, Networking, and Security
CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-002) Cert Prep: 7 Compliance and Assessment
CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-002) Cert Prep: 4 Software and Systems Security
CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-002) Cert Prep: 3 Identity and Access Management
CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-002) Cert Prep: 2 Vulnerability Management
CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-002) Cert Prep: 1 Threat Management
CompTIA A+ (220-1002) Cert Prep 6: Networking, Security, and More
CompTIA A+ (220-1002) Cert Prep 4: Command-Line Interface and Scripting Languages
CISSP Review Course Completion Certificate ISC²
ISC2
CISSP Cert Prep: 8 Software Development Security
CISA Cert Prep: The Basics
CISA Cert Prep: 1 Auditing Information Systems for IS Auditors
CASP+ Cert Prep: 4 Technical Integration of Enterprise Security
CASP+ Cert Prep: 3 Enterprise Security Operations
Android App Penetration Testing
AWS for DevOps: Security, Governance, and Validation
AWS for Architects: Advanced Security
AWS Security Best Practices for Developers
Aviatrix Certified Engineer (ACE): Multi-Cloud Network Associate Course
Aviatrix
Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure
Coursera
Senior Cyber Security Engineer
Udemy
Level BBB | CEFR LEVEL B2
Language Market
Advanced Computer Security | Strategic Decision and Risk Management
Stanford University Online
Level BBB | CEFR LEVEL B1
Berlitz Languages Inc.
MCSA: Windows Server 2012 R2
Microsoft
IT Professional
Microsoft
MCITP | Windows Server 2008 R2 (70-640)
Microsoft
Network Analyst
Sitel University
English Intermediate
KOE Corporation