Vedant Gavde

At SpiffySites LLC, I am supporting SpiffySites' clients in strengthening their cybersecurity and IT infrastructure, with a primary focus on Microsoft 365 Business Premium. I have conducted web application penetration testing on a client website to identify security vulnerabilities and implementation weaknesses, providing actionable recommendations to enhance overall security posture. Additionally, I designed and developed a .NET console application using C# to meet specific client requirements and streamline their operations.

At UxC LLC, I supported the company’s efforts to enhance its cybersecurity and IT systems, focusing on improving security posture and operational resilience. I onboarded users and devices to the Microsoft 365 platform, implementing Entra ID, Purview, Intune, and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to enhance security and ensure compliance. Additionally, I designed incident response playbooks and disaster recovery plans to ensure business continuity in the event of cyber threats. I conducted risk assessments, mitigated vulnerabilities, and aligned security strategies with business objectives, effectively managing risk-related projects to strengthen internal and third-party controls. I also collaborated with stakeholders to continuously improve risk management programs and provided actionable insights to mitigate enterprise risks. To foster a culture of cybersecurity, I facilitated one-on-one discussions with employees to enhance their security awareness and knowledge.

As a cybersecurity intern at SpiffySites LLC, I led an internal penetration test and conducted a security audit of our Azure infrastructure and client websites, including Veritas Schools, WinterJam, and Xtreme. I took charge of implementing encryption on backups to meet company requirements and deployed security controls per NIST 800-53 standards. Additionally, I engaged in secure web development for Christ Community Church and Mishkan HaShofar using WordPress.

As a production crew lead at a performing arts theatre, I oversaw the production's technical aspects, ensuring everything ran smoothly and efficiently. My job responsibilities include the following: Leading the production crew: I managed and oversaw the staff, ensuring everyone worked together effectively and efficiently. Technical coordination: I was responsible for coordinating the technical aspects of the production, including lighting, sound, stage management, and set design. Troubleshooting: I troubleshoot technical issues as they arose and developed quick and practical solutions to ensure the show ran smoothly. Communication: I communicated effectively with the rest of the production team, including directors, actors, and other crew members, to ensure everyone was on the same page. Safety: I ensured that all safety protocols were in place and followed by the crew during rehearsals and performances. Overall, I was responsible for ensuring that the technical aspects of the production were executed flawlessly, resulting in a successful and memorable show for the audience.

As a Junior Engineer at this research lab, I supported multiple ongoing research projects. One of my tasks included analyzing the network logs of a firewall deployed at a smart grid in Mumbai. The smart grid had recently been victim to a cyber attack, resulting in a citywide blackout on October 12, 2020. I soon found the source of the attack and several other malicious network traffic through a detailed analysis of the logs. During this analysis, my team determined that the attackers had exploited a zero-day vulnerability to shut down the smart grid. My team then began identifying the zero-day vulnerability in the deployed infrastructure at the smart grid. We designed a research network of operational technology (OT) devices to mimic the smart grid. I conducted a vulnerability assessment and penetration testing of this research network. Exploring security features in multiple devices, I formulated strategies to discover zero-day vulnerabilities in operational technology devices. MITRE credited me with discovering CVE-2021-44564 (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which has a CVSS 3 score of 8.1.

I worked at the Center of Excellence as a part-time intern on a project sponsored by the state government of Maharashtra. My team comprised six interns and two mentors. Our goal was to detect websites hosting child pornography. Using machine learning and python, we designed a web crawler for TOR (The Onion Router), known as ‘The Dark Web.’ The TOR architecture does not use DNS to resolve websites, instead, one requires an exact URL to access a web page. Hence, crawling TOR was much different than crawling the regular web. Our crawler identified Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) hosted on TOR from social media, blogs, and forum data and gathered 400 unique web pages hosting child pornography. This crawler implemented a text-based detection algorithm. Another team was simultaneously working on detecting deep fake AI so that in the future, we could test child pornography images/videos. Deep fake detection would have enabled us to determine if the images/videos were accurate or modified. My team presented and published ‘CrawlBot: A Domain Specific Pseudonymous Crawler’ in Springer CCIS (Communications in Computer and Information Science) on August 14, 2021. This research paper identified novel methods to identify pages with explicit child pornography efficiently.

Coursework: Hacking of C Programs and Unix Binaries, Networks and Protocols, Penetration Testing, Information Assurance, Embedded Systems Hacking and Security, Security Tools for Information Security, Digital Forensics and Incident Response, Cloud Security, Reverse Software Engineering, Secure Software Testing and Construction