Cybersecurity graduate student focused on identity & access management, security operations, infrastructure security, and OT/ICS environments.

• M.S. Cybersecurity — Georgia Institute of Technology (Aug 2026 – May 2028)
• B.S. Computer Science — The University of Texas at Dallas (Aug 2023 – May 2025)

Security Identity and Access Intern II — City of Dallas (Jul 2026 – Present)

• Collaborate with ServiceNow engineers to build Service Catalog enhancements automating Okta provisioning/deprovisioning, cutting manual IAM processing time by 40%
• Administer identity lifecycle for ~120 employees monthly, resolving ~10 IAM tickets daily, syncing Workday to Active Directory
• Built an Okta Workflows automation to revoke/restore access during administrative leave, cutting manual effort by 75%

• Identity & Access Management (Okta, ServiceNow, Active Directory)
• SOC investigations and alert triage
• OT/ICS security concepts and monitoring
• CompTIA Security+ (expected August 2026)

Cybersecurity Home Lab Segmented Purdue Model ICS lab built with pfSense; configured Wireshark, Zeek, and Suricata for traffic monitoring, custom detections, and identifying insecure protocols and segmentation weaknesses.

SOC Analyst Simulation (LetsDefend) Completed 60+ SOC investigation labs and 75+ alert triage exercises covering phishing, malware, and network-based attacks — telemetry validation, IOC identification, MITRE ATT&CK mapping, and remediation documentation using SIEM, EDR, Wireshark, VirusTotal, and CyberChef.

eCitadel Cyber Defense Competition Secured a simulated enterprise network (AD, Linux/Windows servers, web apps, databases, DNS, SSH, firewalls); identified and remediated 5 vulnerabilities including privilege escalation and credential exposure, applying incident response and threat-hunting under adversarial conditions.

NeuralClimate (Senior Capstone) Python app forecasting Dallas County climate using NOAA's GHCN-D data and ARIMA/Prophet models; built interactive visualizations and led a five-member team through code reviews and version control.

Security: CrowdStrike, Wireshark, Zeek, Suricata, Sysmon, SIEM Analysis, Alert Triage, Incident Response, Threat Hunting, Network Monitoring

IAM & Enterprise Tools: Okta, ServiceNow, Active Directory, ADManager Plus, ADAudit Plus, User Provisioning, Access Governance, RBAC

Systems & Networking: Windows, Linux, TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, pfSense, Firewall Administration, Virtualization

Scripting: Python, PowerShell, Bash, Git

OT/ICS Exposure: Purdue Model, Modbus/TCP, OPC UA, Network Segmentation, Industrial Network Monitoring

CompTIA Security+ (Expected Aug 2026) · Google Cybersecurity · Google Cloud Cybersecurity · IBM Networks and Network Security

• Continue building practical IAM and security operations projects
• Strengthen network defense and SOC investigation skills
• Expand offensive security knowledge
• Publish technical write-ups and investigations
• Grow within cybersecurity, focusing on IAM, security operations, and infrastructure security

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alidakwar
• GitHub: github.com/
• Email: hello@alidakwar.com