Daniel Afkhami-Ardekani

Philadelphia, PA | 610-800-1303 | ardekanicapital@gmail.com | LinkedIn

Contrast Security | Los Altos, CA

Technologies/Skills: Regex, Scripting, Okta, Threat Hunting, Threat & Vulnerability Management, Incident Response, EDR, SumoLogic, Datadog, Incident Response, Reverse Engineering, Security Research and Automation, AWS, Google Workspace

Senior Security Operations Engineer, April. 2024 – Present

  • Led and managed SIEM integration from SumoLogic Analytics platform to Datadog Cloud SIEM, built security queries, data integrations, and incident alerts.

  • Orchestrated Google Workspace migration from Microsoft 365, built in-house security guidelines and overseeing all implementations, and collaborated with IT to prioritize changes, resolving end-user issues, and documented processes for knowledge transfer, significantly bolstering organizational security posture.

Security Operations Engineer, May. 2022 – April. 2024

Designed tools, playbooks, and automation for our security operations team to increase visibility, harden endpoints, and reduce incident response time. I worked on several projects to enhance the effectiveness of our enterprise security team including building data aggregation pipelines, event alerting, incident response playbooks, and conducting security research.

  • Created webhooks and data connectors to ingest data into SumoLogic, where I was able to develop scheduled queries and dashboards to parse critical data to increase the visibility in our infrastructure.

  • Build and develop custom queries and rules for Data Analytics platform and Endpoint solutions.

  • Manage & monitor over 350 endpoints and 50 AWS Kubernetes instances.

IT Edge | West Chester, PA

Technologies/Skills: Windows OS, Active Directory, Huntress Labs, SentinelOne, Malwarebytes, MDR, MFA, VPN, Proofpoint, Email Security, RMM, EDR, Security Compliance, Incident Response, Security Administration

Security Engineer, Nov. 2020 – April. 2022

Design, develop, and manage all security offerings for managed and essential clients. Point of contact for customer concerns regarding security compliance, phishing emails, malware attacks, security improvements and implementations, security assessments, and security sales and quoting.

  • Created a security platform as the team lead and conducted all research, product testing, procurement, implementation, and customer requests.

  • Managed all user request issues and security engineering for over 2700 endpoints.

Incite Automation | Baltimore, MD

Technologies/Skills: Power Automate, PowerApps, Azure Cloud Platform, SharePoint, SQL Table, Dynamics 365

Business Application Consultant, Nov. 2019 – Dec. 2019

Designed and launched enterprise applications, as well as Flows and Logic Apps to streamline historically slow and tedious business processes. Analyzed existing applications, identified areas that could be improved, and created PowerApps to enhance user experiences manipulating data. Customized and configured Dynamics 365 resulting in new business processes, forms, and relationships.

  • Created an automated solution that created 25,000 SharePoint site collections; saved customer about $150,000.

  • Self-taught solutions development using the Microsoft Power Platform and Azure.

Data Federal | Columbia, MD

Technologies/Skills: Workflows, Azure, Stakeholder Management, Requirements Documentation.

Business Analyst, Dec. 2018 – Dec. 2019

Led activities of top-level stakeholders at FDA, OASH, and CDC. Gathered details on project requirements, designed workflows using business processes model notation (BPMN), and generated appropriate solutions based on client requests. Provided and documented system analysis for customers and provided detailed recommendations of viable replacement options. Analyzed existing processes and created, documented, and revised system design procedures, test procedures, and quality standards.

  • Enhanced business analysis skills including stakeholder management, business process workflow design, and requirements documentation.

  • Facilitated requirements gathering meetings with key stakeholders at government agencies.

Good Life Companies | Reading, PA

May. 2016 – Dec. 2018

Additional experience as a Director of Revenue Generation, Digital Marketing Strategist, and Wealth Manager.

Skills & Tools

Windows, MacOS, JSON, Regex, Slack, Jira, Confluence, Google Workspace, Sumo Logic, Crowdstrike, SentinelOne, SIEM, EDR, EPP, XDR, Scripting, Python, Okta, JSON, Powershell, Darktrace, Proofpoint, Tenablie.io, Datadog, Microsoft 365, CASB, Email Security, GitHub, Jamf Pro, API’s, Netskope, Okta, AWS, Miro, Lattice, IAM, Threat & Vulnerability Management, Incident Response, Security Operations, Playbooks, Endpoint Security, Security Awareness Training, Phishing Simulations, Vendor Analysis, Security Automation, Security Research, Stakeholder Management, Project Management.

Education

Certificate in Full Stack Software Development, Actualize Coding Bootcamp, Chicago, IL, 2019

Bachelor of Science in Business Management, Alvernia University – Reading, PA, 2016, 3.4 GPA

Master of Science in Cybersecurity, Saint Bonaventure University – Online, 3.7 GPA

Certifications

Technical: eLearnSecurity – eJPT, TCM Security – PMAT, SumoLogic – Search Mastery Certified

Languages: English (Native), Italian (B2)