Ashwin Kumar Gupta

Results-driven Security Engineer with 8+ years of experience across WAF engineering, VAPT, cloud security, and endpoint protection. Proven track record securing global brands including KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Expertise in Akamai Kona Site Defender, OWASP Top 10 mitigation, SSL/TLS lifecycle management, Azure/AWS cloud security, and SIEM operations.

Holds multiple vendor certifications including Microsoft Azure Security Engineer Associate. Adept at reducing risk, minimizing downtime, and collaborating with cross-functional global teams.

Security Engineer II – WAF, VAPT & Certificates - Yum India Global Services (Subsidiary of Yum! Brands) - India

(2022-10)

Brands secured: KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell (Global)

• Implemented and fine-tuned Akamai Kona Site Defender rules to protect applications against OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and zero-day exploits.
• Designed and maintained custom WAF rules to minimize false positives while aligning with business requirements.
• Led incident response for DDoS mitigation, bot traffic management, and API protection via Akamai security configurations.
• Collaborated with global engineering teams to ensure secure, policy-compliant deployment of applications on Akamai edge network.
• Conducted VAPT assessments for web applications, REST APIs, and cloud-hosted services using Synack, Cobalt, and Rapid7.
• Produced and presented detailed VAPT reports with risk-rated findings and actionable remediation strategies for dev and ops teams.
• Validated patches and configuration changes post-remediation to confirm closure of identified vulnerabilities.
• Managed full SSL/TLS certificate lifecycle (issuance, renewal, deployment, revocation) for Sectigo and other CAs across multicloud and CDN environments.
• Resolved SSL-related outages by diagnosing certificate chain issues, hostname validation errors, and HTTPS misconfiguration.
• Automated certificate monitoring and renewal workflows, significantly reducing risk of service disruption due to expiry.
• Coordinated with DevOps and Cloud teams to enforce TLS best practices across Azure, AWS, and CDN environments.

System Administrator & Security Analyst - Chetu India Pvt Ltd - Noida, India

(2020-12 - 2022-10)

• Configured and managed IAM roles, Azure MFA, Azure AD Connect, and Azure VPN/Virtual Networks for enhanced security posture.
• Administered AWS foundational services: compute (EC2), storage (S3), networking, content delivery, and security configurations.
• Set up Windows Log Collector and Windows AppLocker policies to enforce application control and audit compliance on servers and workstations.
• Deployed and administered Sophos EDR and multiple AV solutions (TrendMicro, McAfee ENS) for endpoint protection across servers and workstations.
• Configured open-source SIEM (OSSEC) integrated with Grafana dashboards for real-time security monitoring and alerting.
• Performed daily vulnerability scanning, endpoint monitoring, and incident triage across the enterprise environment.
• Led ePO consolidation – Minda Industries (UNOMinda Group): Migrated 13+ standalone ePO servers into a single unified console; deployed Host DLP and Super-Agents across 20+ remote locations.
• Forcepoint DLP – IRIS Software: Installed and configured Forcepoint DLP server with Email Protector integrated into Microsoft 365 mail flow.
• Cloud Migration – NewGen Software: Executed ePO migration and upgrade on AWS cloud infrastructure.

Technical Support Engineer - IT Solutions India Pvt Ltd - Delhi, India

(2018-03 - 2020-12)

• Provided Tier-1/2 IT support; diagnosed and resolved hardware, software, network, and security incidents for end users.
• Removed malware, ransomware, and advanced threats from enterprise endpoints; patched systems to eliminate known vulnerabilities.
• Implemented and maintained endpoint security baselines, enforced patch management cycles, and tracked compliance across the IT estate.
• Configured and supported network devices, VPN connections, and firewall rules; assisted with network segmentation for security compliance.
• Monitored system and network logs to identify anomalies and potential intrusions; escalated incidents per defined security runbooks.
• Documented all support transactions and resolutions in the ticketing system, building a structured internal knowledge base.
• Delivered technical presentations to prospects and ensured customer satisfaction post-resolution through structured followups.

Bachelor of Technology - Information Technology - Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) (2016-05)