Cybersecurity Engineering Student | Security Researcher & Tool Developer

Cybersecurity and Information Technology Engineering student, specializing in secure system architecture, automation, and low-level security tooling.

Penetration Testing • Intrusion Detection Systems (Snort, Prelude SIEM) • Host-based Intrusion Detection (OSSEC) • Network Traffic Analysis (Wireshark) • Exploitation Frameworks (Metasploit) • Password Cracking (Hashcat) • Memory Forensics • Security Event Correlation • Vulnerability Assessment

Kernel-based Virtual Machines (KVM) • Container Orchestration (Docker) • Enterprise Virtualization (Proxmox VE, VMware) • Infrastructure as Code (Ansible, Vagrant) • Linux System Hardening (Arch, CentOS, Gentoo) • Windows Internals • Mandatory Access Control (SELinux, grsecurity) • Public Key Infrastructure (PKI/CA)

Socket Programming • TCP/IP Stack Implementation • VLAN Segmentation • VPN/IPSec Configuration • Deep Packet Inspection • Custom Protocol Design • Network Security Architecture

Systems Programming: C/C++, x86/x64 Assembly
Automation & Scripting: Python, Bash, PowerShell
Backend Development: Flask REST APIs, SQL
Security Tooling: Windows API, Linux Kernel Modules

Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) • Network File System Security (NFSv4 with krb5p/krb5i) • Principal Management • Centralized Authentication Architecture

Ongoing Development

Full-scale Capture The Flag platform deployed on a Proxmox VE hypervisor, featuring a dynamic orchestration layer and automated network isolation for 15+ specialized security challenges.

Core Infrastructure & Features:

• Dynamic Orchestration: Developed a custom Python Manager that interacts directly with the Proxmox API to automate VM provisioning, resource allocation, and life-cycle management.
• Advanced Network Architecture: Engineered a multi-tier network using OPNsense as a centralized gateway/firewall, managing internal 10.0.0.0/24 segments and remote OpenVPN access for students.
• Un-bypassable Security: Implemented Proxmox host-level firewall rules at the tap interface level, ensuring network isolation remains intact even against users with root privileges inside the VM.
• Resilient Service Deployment: Deployed a Docker-based CTFd environment on Debian, featuring optimized routing tables (/etc/network/interfaces post-up locks) and daemon configurations to prevent container-driven gateway hijacking.
• Challenge Integrity: Designed isolated virtual segments and granular firewall policies to prevent cross-contamination and ensure a fair competition environment.

Technical Stack:

• Hypervisor: Proxmox VE
• Security & Routing: OPNsense, OpenVPN, Firewall Engineering
• Orchestration: Python (Proxmox API), Ansible
• DevOps: Docker, Debian Linux, Shell Scripting

January 2026 • Academic Project

Enterprise-grade secure Linux environment integrating centralized identity management and kernel-level defense mechanisms.

Security Implementation:

• Identity Management: Deployed Kerberos KDC on CentOS 9 for centralized authentication and principal management across distributed systems
• Secure Storage: Integrated NFSv4 with Kerberos encryption modes (krb5p for privacy, krb5i for integrity) ensuring authenticated and protected remote file access
• Kernel Hardening: Applied PaX and grsecurity patches on Hardened Gentoo providing ASLR enhancement, memory protection, and exploit mitigation
• Access Control: Configured SELinux in Multi-Level Security (MLS) and Multi-Category Security (MCS) modes for data segregation across clearance levels
• PKI Architecture: Established custom Certificate Authority securing Apache web servers with TLS/HTTPS

Stack: Kerberos, NFSv4, SELinux, grsecurity, PKI/CA, Apache, CentOS, Hardened Gentoo

January 2025

Intelligent automation framework for Arch Linux system recovery and chroot environment configuration.

Features:

• Automatic detection and analysis of system configurations including bootloader and partition schemes
• Native support for LUKS full-disk encryption and Btrfs subvolume architectures
• Generates executable recovery scripts for live environment troubleshooting and repair operations

Stack: Python, Bash, Linux Internals, Cryptography (LUKS), Filesystem Management (Btrfs)

January 2026 • Academic Project

Self-hosted Platform-as-a-Service featuring pre-initialized container pools with sub-second provisioning capabilities.

Technical Features:

• Multi-tenant user management system with secure file upload functionality
• Automated infrastructure orchestration leveraging Ansible and Vagrant/KVM integration
• RESTful API backend built with Flask managing Docker container lifecycle
• Achieved <1 second deployment time through intelligent container pre-warming

Stack: Docker, Flask, Ansible, Vagrant, KVM, Shell Scripting, REST API Design

Under Active Development

Comprehensive Windows security auditing framework designed for IT administrators, Security Operations Centers, and penetration testing teams.

Capabilities:

• Automated enumeration and analysis of Windows security configurations
• Security posture assessment with vulnerability identification
• Generates detailed compliance and hardening reports

Stack: C++, Windows API, Security Assessment Frameworks

Team Lead (6 Members) | March 2025 • Academic Project

Real-time strategy game inspired by Age of Empires II featuring custom multiplayer networking architecture.

Technical Implementation:

• Hybrid Python-C communication system optimized for low-latency real-time gameplay
• Custom application-layer protocol for synchronized multiplayer sessions
• Efficient state synchronization for resource management and unit coordination

Stack: Python, C, Socket Programming, Custom Network Protocols, Real-time Systems

Team Lead (7 Members) | January 2025 • Academic Project

Real-time strategy game featuring intelligent AI opponents powered by decision tree algorithms.

AI Systems:

• Advanced autonomous resource management and strategic planning algorithms
• Decision tree implementation enabling dynamic tactical combat behavior
• Autonomous unit training, structure construction, and battlefield coordination

Stack: Python, Artificial Intelligence, Decision Trees, Game Development

October 2024

Minimalistic C standard library implementation built from scratch without external dependencies.

Implementation:

• Custom memory management primitives (malloc, free, memory operations)
• String manipulation and file I/O operations
• Shell-like utility functions for system-level programming

Stack: C, Systems Programming, Low-level Development, Memory Management

January 2024 • Academic Project

Multi-layered defensive security architecture simulating enterprise-grade network protection.

Architecture:

• Deployed unified security monitoring with Prelude SIEM aggregating events from multiple detection engines
• Configured Snort for network-based intrusion detection with custom signature development
• Integrated OSSEC for host-based security monitoring and log analysis
• Developed custom detection rules for SSH brute-force attacks and lateral movement patterns
• Implemented real-time correlation engine for cross-layer threat detection

Stack: Prelude SIEM, Snort, OSSEC, iptables, Log Analysis, Network Traffic Analysis

April 2023

High-performance cryptographic toolkit for hash analysis and password recovery operations.

Capabilities:

• Multi-algorithm hash decryption supporting MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256
• Multiple attack methodologies: ASCII brute-force, probabilistic generation, dictionary-based attacks
• Optimized wordlist generation engine for password cracking campaigns

Stack: C, Cryptographic Algorithms, Performance Optimization, Multi-threading

GitHub: github.com/XpertLambda
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ahmad-msaad
Email: ahmad.saad@insa-cvl.fr
Discord: thelambda

Languages: French (B2) • English (B2) • Arabic (Native)

Open to collaboration on security research, tool development, and infrastructure hardening projects.