Sarika Gopinath

Junior cybersecurity professional with applied research experience in DNS security, resolver resilience, and Linux system administration. Hands on with BIND/Unbound, DNSSEC validation, dnsperf/dig benchmarking, tcpdump/Wireshark analysis, and Python scripting. Proven ability to design controlled testbeds, deliver technical reports, and implement configuration changes that improved resolver performance.

Research Assistant – Cybersecurity - Fraunhofer Institute TU Darmstadt

(2024-09 - 2025-06)

• Designed and executed experiments to evaluate recursive DNS resolver behavior and resilience against contemporary threats; documented methods and results in technical reports.
• Deployed and configured BIND and Unbound resolvers on Linux testbeds; validated DNSSEC and performed configuration audits across resolver setups.
• Conducted performance benchmarking and packet captures using dnsperf, dig, tcpdump, and Wireshark; implemented configuration changes that improved query resolution efficiency by 25%.
• Identified and documented resolver misconfigurations and security issues; authored remediation recommendations to enhance stability and security posture.
• Built and maintained VirtualBox-based controlled testbeds and performed cross-platform troubleshooting (Linux/Windows), improving testbed reliability by ~30%.
• Collaborated with researchers and engineers to translate experimental findings into effective mitigation strategies for secure DNS deployments.

Research Assistant – Malware Analysis - Ionian University, Greece - Greece

(2026-03)

• Working on malware family classification using deep learning and image based analysis. Preparing malware and benign datasets, implementing CNN models with TensorFlow/Keras, and evaluating malware classification performance using Windows executable files.

M.Sc. - Computer Science - Pondicherry University (2020-11 - 2022-06)

B.Sc. - Computer Science - University of Calicut (2017-07 - 2020-03)