Hey, I'm Thomas Perez 👋

Cybersecurity Graduate · Apple Specialist · US Navy Veteran
📍 Houston, Texas  |  🎓 A.A.S. Cybersecurity — Houston City College '26
🔗 LinkedIn  |  📧 Open to opportunities

I'm a cybersecurity grad who actually builds things. Fresh out of the Navy, I've spent the last few years studying security from the ground up; not just theory, but hands-on labs, real attack scenarios, and a multi-VM monitoring system I built from scratch.

At Apple, I've spent 2+ years helping people navigate technology. In the Navy, I learned to stay calm when things get complicated. In the lab, I learned that curiosity and persistence beat talent every time.

I'm looking for my first full-time role in cybersecurity — SOC analyst, IT security, or anything where I get to break things (ethically) and defend them better.

A passive OT/IT security monitoring system that observes, analyzes, and responds to threats without touching legacy infrastructure.

Built across a 4-VM environment (Ubuntu C2, Alpine network sensor, Windows 10/11 endpoints) with 5 specialized agents:

Alert pipeline: Low → logged · Medium → Mac dashboard · High → Telegram + auto-response
Stack: Python · Ubuntu · Alpine Linux · Windows 10/11 · Sysmon · Winlogbeat · Ollama · Telegram API

Built a SHA256 hash generator and dictionary-based password cracker in Python. Demonstrated why common passwords fall in seconds and how MFA closes the gap.
Python SHA256 Dictionary Attack MFA Concepts

Hardened a Windows 10/11 environment — PUA protection, Tamper Protection, firewall configuration, service minimization, and screen lock policies.
Windows Security Firewall System Hardening Defense in Depth

XPCyber Challenge · Full Pass 7/7 ✅
Remediated an AD misconfiguration scenario: scoped share permissions, created security groups, disabled unauthorized accounts, and restricted workstation logons.
Active Directory NTFS Permissions Access Control Domain Administration

XPCyber Challenge · 2/3 ✅
Implemented SSH public key authentication across multiple servers and configured OTPW one-time password authentication on a backup server.
SSH Public Key Auth Linux OTPW

XPCyber Challenge · Full Pass 8/8 ✅
Identified and removed malware from a suspicious USB drive while preserving file integrity across all 4 clean files. Forensics analyst workflow.
Malware Analysis File Integrity Digital Forensics Virus Scanning

Languages     Python · Bash
OS            Ubuntu · Alpine Linux · Windows 10/11 · macOS
Security      Sysmon · Winlogbeat · UFW · Windows Defender · Active Directory
Concepts      Network Monitoring · System Hardening · Access Control · Threat Detection
Platforms     XPCyber · VirtualBox/VMware · Ollama · Telegram API

• 🇺🇸 US Navy Veteran — discipline, mission focus, working under pressure and team-collaboration
• 🍎 Apple Specialist (2023–Present) — device configuration, customer solutions, operations

"Security isn't a product, it's a process." ; I'm here for all of it