About Me

I'm Leo — IT Security Engineer with over two decades in cybersecurity. Electrical Engineer with a Master's degree in Telecommunications from the Universidad de los Andes (Mérida, Venezuela). Based in the United States since December 2021.

My approach to security has always been dual: understand how attackers think, build better defenses. I've spent my career doing both — from training security professionals across Latin America to hunting threats and hardening systems in the field. These days I'm particularly focused on the intersection of AI and defensive security, and I'm in the final stages of building PfChat, an OpenClaw skill that brings conversational AI to network security operations.

From 2001 to 2013, I was part of the ESLARED instructor team — a foundation recognized by the Internet Society with the Jonathan B. Postel Service Award for promoting internet development in Latin America. During those 12 years I trained professionals in Cybersecurity, Wireless Networks, and VoIP across Latin America and the Caribbean. Teaching shaped how I think about security: if you can't explain it clearly, you don't understand it well enough.

I also play CTFs to keep my offensive instincts sharp. Since 2021 I've participated in over 100 CTFs across platforms worldwide, publishing writeups for 13 of them — they live on this blog. You can also track me on TryHackMe and on CTFtime.

Three of my writeups have been officially recognized by their organizers:

• 2nd Best Write-up — Deloitte Hacky Holidays 2021
• Top-10 Best Write-up — Deloitte Hacky Holidays 2022
• Top-3 Best Write-up — Space Heroes CTF 2023 (FITSEC / Florida Tech)

Some notable rankings among those competitions:

• 2nd / 114 teams — OWASP Panama CTF 2022
• 2nd / 48 teams — WorlParty CTF 2022 (Spain)
• 3rd / 45 teams — Kavacon CTF 2022 (Paraguay)
• 4th / 385 teams — DragonJarCon CTF 2021 (Colombia)

Certifications

• (ISC)² CC — Certified in Cybersecurity
• CompTIA Security+
• eCPPT — eLearnSecurity Certified Professional Penetration Tester
• eJPT — eLearnSecurity Junior Penetration Tester
• ITIL v4 Foundation
• (ISC)² CISSP — Candidate (exam scheduled October 2026)

Technologies & Platforms

SIEM & Threat Detection

• Microsoft Sentinel
• Rapid7
• Splunk

Endpoint Protection

• Microsoft Defender Suite
• CrowdStrike

Email Security

• Proofpoint
• Microsoft Exchange
• PowerDMARC
• EasyDMARC
• DMARC / SPF

Network Security

• Cisco Umbrella SIG
• Cisco Meraki
• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
• Wireshark
• Nmap

Identity & Cloud

• Microsoft Entra
• Microsoft Azure

ITSM

• ServiceNow

Technical Skills

• Red Team / Blue Team Operations
• NOC / SOC
• ISO/IEC 27001 — Information Security Management System (ISMS)
• Network Administration & System Administration
• AI-focused Security Solutions

Community & Memberships

• IEEE Member since 1999
• Linux Registered User since 2004
• ISOC Member since 2009
• TryHackMe — active CTF player
• CTF Writeups on GitHub

A Bit More

• Research and writing instincts
• Teacher at heart
• Passion for learning
• Founder of Defense Security LLC — independent cybersecurity consulting
• Proud husband and father of two

Badges & Credentials

Platform	Profile
Acredible
Credly
Badgr