Experience

Cyber Security Coordinator

Strategic Platform Management: Managed and optimized the city's CrowdStrike Falcon platform, ensuring state-of-the-art endpoint security for all digital assets.

SSL & Infrastructure Maintenance: Developed a system and guide to deploy SSL certificates on 200+ servers. Maintained and regularly updated SSL certificates to ensure encrypted communications. 

Server Configuration: Successfully designed and deployed a syslog system across 200+ servers, providing accurate and efficient log management. Used this system to forward logs to the NYSOC which then became the standard infrastructure across the state. 

Automation & Efficiency: Developed and implemented scripts to automate various processes, driving operational efficiency and reducing manual intervention in routine tasks.

Statewide Collaboration: Spearheaded the onboarding of Yonkers to New York State's NYSOC team to foster a more vital state-city cyber collaboration. This is the first state-sponsored joint security operations center, making Yonkers the first city in the nation to achieve this. 

Vulnerability Management: Achieved a significant reduction in device vulnerabilities from 1.5 million to 800k, bolstering the city's cyber defenses.

Infrastructure Control: Constructed a RADIUS server, granting centralized access control for switches and routers, thus strengthening network security.

Authentication Enhancement: Rolled out Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) across the city's digital platforms, adding a layer of user authentication and protection.

Active Security Testing: Led and conducted rigorous penetration testing on city systems, identifying potential vulnerabilities and reinforcing the city's cyber defenses.

Team Leadership & Growth: Interviewed and selected top-tier candidates to join the city's cyber team, ensuring skillful and dedicated personnel to further the city's cyber initiatives.

Financial Acumen: Prepared and submitted grant applications, securing essential funding for expanded cybersecurity projects and programs.

MDM: Deployed the city's first mobile device management system.

Graduate Course Assistant 

GY6573 Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Analysis 

Holistic Course Direction: Collaborated in the meticulous execution of a broad course curriculum spanning foundational penetration methodologies to intricate exploitation techniques. This included directing lessons on pentest methodologies, exploitation foundations, web app vulnerabilities, post-exploitation strategies, and password-based exploits.

 Hands-On Labs Leadership & Practical Guidance:

 Lab 1 (Pentest Setup): Mentored students in establishing their penetration testing labs and configuring pen-testing machines, laying the groundwork for subsequent exercises.

Lab 2 (Reconnaissance): Supervised activities on attack surface mapping and passive reconnaissance, ensuring students adeptly identified initial vulnerabilities.

Lab 3 (Scanning): Guided students through advanced scanning and vulnerability enumeration, focusing on identifying potential entry points.

Lab 4 & 5 (Exploitation): Instructed students on leveraging exploits to gain initial access, covering topics like shells, application reversing, buffer overflows, and exploit development.

Lab 6 (Web Attacks): Delved into the intricacies of web vulnerabilities, teaching students how to exploit common web application flaws.

Lab 7 (Post Exploitation): Covered a comprehensive post-exploitation landscape, including fixing exploit databases, using PowerShell, privilege escalation, and cross-compiling.

Lab 8 (Passwords): Oversaw exercises related to password security, from dictionary creation and password cracking to authentication backdoors.

Academic Integrity & Assessment: Upheld stringent academic standards, grading student outputs across labs, assignments, and the final project. Ensured assessments were based on real-world scenarios, drawing parallels to cybersecurity challenges.

 Dedicated Student Mentorship: Fostered an environment conducive to deep learning. The office hours were designed to mentor students holistically, from the nitty-gritty of technical execution to the broader strategy of ethical hacking.

 Final Project Guidance: Steered students during the final project, emphasizing real-world penetration test scenarios, ethical considerations, and professional reporting.

 Ensuring Academic Integrity: Advocated for the NYU School of Engineering's code of conduct, ensuring students recognized the importance of academic honesty in a field demanding trust and integrity.

Senior Information Systems Security Officer 

Key Advisory Role: Acted as a pivotal advisor to the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)/Senior Agency Information Security Officer (SAISO) and System Owner (SO), providing insights on all security facets concerning the information system.

 Operational Security Maintenance: Upheld the requisite active security posture for the system, ensuring robust defenses against potential threats and vulnerabilities.

Security Planning:

• 1. System Security Plans (SSP): Collaboratively contributed to the evolution and refinement of SSPs, ensuring they remained aligned with evolving threat landscapes.

  2. Plans of Action & Milestones (POA&M): Addressed and monitored vital action points, safeguarding against latent vulnerabilities and fortifying system resilience.

Change Management: Undertook the essential duty of evaluating, controlling, and determining the security implications of modifications to the system, guaranteeing that updates didn't inadvertently introduce vulnerabilities.

System Categorization (as per FIPS 199): Shared the onus of system categorization, identifying the types of information processed, transmitted, and stored, thus ascertaining the potential impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Risk Management & Compliance:

1. Implementation of NIST RMF: Spearheaded adoption and application of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Risk Management Framework.

2. Continuous Monitoring: Established and perpetuated continuous monitoring protocols to underpin ongoing Authority to Operate (ATO) mandates.

3. NIST-based Evaluations: Executed rigorous risk assessments on prospective system alterations, ensuring they aligned with NIST directives.

4. Risk Analysis: Consistently gauged system operations and modifications risks, ensuring a proactive approach to potential threats.

Policy & Documentation:

1. Federal Program Oversight: Assisted with policy crafting, monitoring, and compliance assessments for federal authorization programs.

2. Security Documentation: Composed various security documents, encapsulating policies, procedures, plans, and standards-aligned with NIST SP800-53 controls.

Audit & Vulnerability Assessment: Conducted periodic and ad-hoc system audits and vulnerability evaluations, ensuring system adherence to stipulated standards and preempting potential threats.

Technical Mentorship: Dispensed guidance and provided leadership to junior technical staff, fostering an environment of collective growth and knowledge sharing.

Cloud Application Development  

Program Overview: MSSA is an 18-week intensive coding boot camp underwritten by Microsoft, explicitly tailored for veterans and transitioning service members. The program is designed to impart robust coding, cloud, and software development skills.

 Database Analytics:

 SQL Server: Acquired proficiency in handling, analyzing, and interpreting data using SQL Server, one of the premier database management systems.

Software Development:

C# with Visual Studio: Gained hands-on experience in software development using C#, a versatile programming language, and Visual Studio, Microsoft's flagship development environment.

Web Development & Cloud Migration:

ASP.NET with MVC Framework: Mastered using ASP.NET and the Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework, facilitating the seamless migration of applications to cloud platforms like Azure.

Microsoft Azure Solutions: Cultivated expertise in creating, deploying, and managing applications on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

Application Design & Deployment:

 Database-Driven App Development: Designed, programmed, and launched applications that connect to organizational databases, delivering multimedia and information services to end users.

App Positioning & Distribution: Grasped frameworks and practical skills necessary to market an app as a distinct product and distribute it through channels such as the Windows App Store.

 Soft Skills Development: Fostered vital soft skills tailored for professional settings, ensuring not only technical prowess but also the ability to communicate, collaborate, and navigate in professional environments effectively.