PS C:\Users\alex>|
A little over two years ago during the summer after my first year of college I stumbled upon CPP Cyber and Cal Poly Swift. Ever since then I have dedicated most of my free time doing something cybersecurity related.
I am currently a Red Team Intern at CrowdStrike on their Professional Services team, and have previously interned at government contractors such as Johns Hopkins APL and MITRE. Outside of work/school, I enjoy doing anything cybersecurity-related such as competing in competitions like CCDC, CPTC, and CyberForce. The certifications that I currently possess are OSCP+, Red Team Operator, Red Team Lead, and Security+. Below are some of my experiences and the competitions I have participated in.
## experience
Red Team Intern · CrowdStrike
Summer 2026 – Fall 2026 (Extended) · Professional Services
- Shadowed and operated on red-team engagements including internal exercises and external penetration tests.
- Conducted a mock red-team assessment of a misconfigured Active Directory environment and presented findings to stakeholders.
- Developed internal post-exploitation tooling for facilitating lateral movement, injections, and pivoting.
Red Teaming
Adversary Emulation
Post-Exploitation Tooling
Active Directory
Cyber Investigations Intern · MITRE
May 2025 – July 2025
- Supported full-scope adversarial emulation engagements, replicating nation-state TTPs to identify detection gaps and strengthen sponsor defensive capabilities.
- Integrated relevant APT intelligence into the in-house OpenCTI platform to support red team scenario design.
- Integrated Cypress-based E2E tests into CI/CD pipeline for Angular projects, streamlining release processes and enhancing application stability.
Cyber Threat Intel
Adversary Emulation
MITRE ATT&CK
OpenCTI
Network Engineering Intern · Johns Hopkins APL
May 2024 – August 2024
- Collaborated with a team to develop a Python-based automation framework for remote network analysis, designed to capture network traffic (pcap files), video streams (VLC videos), and generate traffic patterns using MGEN.
- Developed Bash and PowerShell scripts to automate the setup of a video analysis workbench.
- Analyzed network degradation issues caused by 5G phones generating fake traffic via iPerf3, utilizing Wireshark.
- Configured and validated Downlink and Uplink data transmission settings for video analysis.
Wireshark
Python
5G Communications
Technical Support Assistant · Cal Poly Pomona
February 2024 – Present
- Imaged devices for over 12 departments across Cal Poly utilizing PXE boot.
- Utilized ServiceNow to efficiently track, manage, and close support tickets within established SLAs.
- Helped end users diagnose and troubleshoot various hardware, software, and operating system related issues.
Customer Support
Windows Troubleshooting
Mac Troubleshooting
## competitions
Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition · Competitor, Windows and Linux Penetration Tester
June 2025 – Present | 1st Place Regionals, Globals Finalist
- Performed Open Source Intelligence and source code analysis on public repositories to discover initial access points.
- Exploited exposed databases, web applications, Active Directory configurations, and default service credentials.
- Audited fictional companies against security best practices and compliance standards including DFARS and ITAR.
- Authored report detailing findings, business impact, compliance issues, and remediation strategies to C-suite stakeholders.
OSINT
Web Application Testing
Reporting
Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition · Business Lead / Incident Response
April 2024 – April 2025 | 2nd @ Invitationals #1
- Managed servers running HTTP, DNS, SMTP, MySQL, FTP, and Kubernetes.
- Designed and implemented hardening techniques and strategies to mitigate red-team attacks on critical infrastructure.
- Responded to business related tasks, such as incident reports, system inventory reports, and user access management.
Systems Administration
Windows Server Hardening
Incident Response
CyberForce Competition · Incident Response Lead
September 2023 – November 2023 | 16th Place
- Searched for vulnerabilities utilizing Nessus, Nmap, WinPeas, LinPeas, and manual enumeration.
- Created security documentation with an executive summary, network diagram, a full list of vulnerabilities found on all machines with remediation steps, and a detailed writeup on hardening machines.
- Presented initial risk assessment and remediation of vulnerabilities found on machines to a panel of fictional executives.
- Led the incident response team to respond to threat actors trying to gain access to critical infrastructure.
Incident Response
Nessus Vulnerability Scanner
Reporting
Information Technology Competition · IT Security Focus
April 2025 – May 2025 | 1st Place
- Identified and exploited misconfigurations in AWS EC2 and DynamoDB services.
- Exploited exposed databases, web applications, Active Directory misconfigurations, and default service credentials.
- Created a detailed report detailing findings, business impact, and compliance violations for executives and presented findings to C-suite audience. Final Report
OWASP
Burp Suite
Reporting
NCAE Cyber Games · Networking Lead / Incident Response
January 2024 – April 2024 NCAE | 1st West Overflow, 2nd Nationally
- Defended vulnerable servers running HTTPS, DNS, SSH, FTP, and MySQL from attackers in real time.
- Set up network configurations for the team router and other UNIX based machines so endpoints can communicate with each other and outside networks.
- Developed bash scripts to automate the securing of UNIX-based machines.
Firewalls
Networking
Incident Response
Hivestorm Competition · Windows Focus
September 2024 | 5th Place
- Secured Windows Server 2022 VMs by patching vulnerabilities, removing malware, and hardening systems.
- Applied Windows hardening techniques such as firewall configuration, disabling unnecessary services, enabling automatic updates, and enforcing secure group policies (password and account policies).
- Conducted digital forensics on the Windows Server by analyzing logs, linking malicious scripts to services, and identifying indicators of compromise (backdoors, persistence mechanisms).
CIS Benchmarks
Password Cracking
Digital Forensics
## certifications
OSCP+ (OffSec Certified Professional)
OffSec Certification
- Demonstrated practical penetration testing skills across Linux and Windows environments.
- Performed enumeration, exploitation, privilege escalation, and post-exploitation to obtain proof-of-compromise.
- Produced clear technical documentation and remediation recommendations in a professional penetration testing report.
- Credential Verification
Penetration Testing
Privilege Escalation
Reporting
Certified Red Team Operator
June 2024
- Gained hands-on experience with Cobalt Strike and C2 frameworks to execute red team operations in a realistic Windows domain lab environment.
- Performed Active Directory enumeration, privilege escalation, Kerberos attacks, token impersonation, and lateral movement.
- Utilized Cobalt Strike malleable C2 profiles and modifications to the Artifact Kit to evade Windows Defender.
- Credential Verification
Cobalt Strike
Red Teaming
Evasion
Certified Red Team Lead
Zero-Point Security Certification
- Advanced red team certification focused on planning and executing full-scope operations against mature defensive environments.
- Designed and operated resilient C2 infrastructure, including team servers and redirectors, to support long-haul operations.
- Practiced evasion of modern EDR/AV solutions and post-exploitation tradecraft in Active Directory environments.
- Credential Verification
Red Team Operations
C2 Infrastructure
EDR Evasion
Security+ SY0-601
January 2024 – January 2027
- Demonstrated understanding of core security concepts, including confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA triad).
- Gained knowledge of security policies, frameworks (e.g., NIST, ISO), and regulatory compliance.
- Learned about access control, identity management, and cryptographic protocols.
CIA Triad
NIST
IAM
## leadership / clubs
Students with an Interest in the Future of Technology · Academy Director
April 2024 – May 2025
- Managed and coordinated weekly technical security content to educate an audience of over 50 university students.
- Led a presentation and workshop on SIEMs, utilizing Wazuh to view host and network logs, integrated with VirusTotal.
- Developed an intentionally vulnerable Windows environment and configured Sliver C2 to teach students about red teaming topics.
- Mentored students and competition teams to improve technical skills in defensive security.
Leadership
Public Speaking
Presenting