A Cybersecurity Blog

Who is SecOpsBro?

Abdulquadri Saka-Bolanta

Hi, I'm Abdulquadri Saka-Bolanta – you can call me Abdul.

I'm a cybersecurity professional with hands-on experience in both offensive and defensive security. I started my cybersecurity career in 2021 as a SOC analyst, after a brief stint in telecoms engineering driven by my early interest in satellite communication and avionics. That interest took shape during my undergraduate studies in electrical engineering. However, toward the end of my degree, I found myself drawn to cybersecurity.
Since my pivot to cybersecurity, I've steadily grown in the field, moving from an entry-level SOC role into a Tier-2 analyst position, where I handled incident response and worked on more technical investigations. This promotion sparked a deeper interest in understanding the attacker's mindset, leading me to dive into ethical hacking. While I've always had a strong footing in blue team operations, I've come to enjoy penetration testing just as much.
Having progressed through various cybersecurity positions, I bring both technical depth and practical experience to help organisations strengthen their security posture and respond effectively to incidents. My collaborative approach ensures security initiatives align with business objectives while maintaining clear communication across all stakeholders.
Beyond traditional cybersecurity practice, I am deeply engaged in researching emerging threats and developing innovative solutions. My master's dissertation focused on detecting deepfake media—a critical challenge given the rapid advancement of AI technologies that make sophisticated media manipulation increasingly accessible. The research involved developing deep learning models using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). This work addresses the growing need for reliable detection methods as deepfakes pose significant risks to information integrity, legal proceedings, and organisational security.

Professional Experience

Senior Security Engineer

DIGISS LLC, Lagos, Nigeria (Jan 2024 – Jan 2025)

  • Collaborated with internal teams and external auditors to facilitate the SOC 2 audit process by collecting, organising, and presenting required evidence and responding to audit inquiries efficiently
  • Designed and implemented incident response playbooks, enhancing team readiness and streamlining remediation efforts
  • Served as an escalation point for Tier-1 analysts and engineers, providing expert support during incident investigations and facilitating knowledge transfer to enhance team skills
  • Improved SIEM effectiveness by creating customised alert use cases and refining CASB policies to protect sensitive data
  • Led incident response engagements, conducting root cause analysis, malware investigation and forensic examination to determine source, impact and remediation steps

Achievement:

  • SOC 2 audit readiness: Collected and curated 100% of required evidence, achieved zero audit findings, thereby reducing audit response time by 50%.
  • Mentorship impact: Trained and mentored 4 Tier-1 analysts, raising the team's average investigation quality score by 25%.
  • Detection improvements: Created 10+ custom SIEM alert rules and refined CASB policies, resulting in a 40% reduction in false positives and 30% faster detection of data leakage.

Security Engineer

DIGISS LLC, Lagos, Nigeria (Jan 2023 – Jan 2024)

  • Conducted proactive threat hunting, identifying and mitigating advanced persistent threats
  • Assessed security posture through web application and Active Directory penetration testing
  • Integrated security tools like EDR, CASB, IDS/IPS, and DLP with SIEM
  • Automated repetitive tasks through Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR)

Achievement:

  • Threat hunting outcomes: Discovered and neutralized 2 undetected threats through proactive hunting.
  • Tool integration efficiency: Implemented EDR, IDS/IPS, CASB, and DLP into the SIEM framework, cutting average detection-to-response time by 45%.
  • Automation impact: Developed 3 SOAR playbooks that automated repetitive tasks, reducing manual labor by 60% and increasing response speed by 50%.

Cybersecurity Analyst

DIGISS LLC, Lagos, Nigeria (March 2022 – Jan 2023)

  • Monitored and triaged security alerts in real-time using SIEM tools, IDS/IPS, escalating incidents based on severity and impact
  • Served as Subject Matter Expert (SME) for SentinelOne EDR tool, providing ongoing platform optimisation to enhance endpoint security across the organisation
  • Analysed file systems, including NTFS and FAT32, using Autopsy to recover deleted or corrupted data
  • Updated service operation procedures (SOP) for the incident investigation and reporting

Achievement:

  • Endpoint security: Acted as SME for SentinelOne, tuning policies that cut endpoint incident frequency by 25%.

Security Analyst Intern

UNITeS Cisco Networking Academy, Lagos, Nigeria (Remote) (Dec 2020 – Dec 2021)

  • Wrote comprehensive reports on penetration testing assessments and security incidents for both technical and executive audiences
  • Utilized tools like Wireshark and IDS/IPS for threat detection and network traffic analysis

Projects

Technical Skills

  • Security Tools: SIEM, EDR, CASB, Wireshark, Kali Linux, Metasploit, Burp Suite, Flare VM, Remnux
  • Scripting & Programming: Python, Bash, PowerShell
  • Frameworks & Standards: OWASP, NIST 800-61, MITRE ATT&CK, ISO/IEC 27001, PCI DSS

Soft Skills

  • Communication: Proficient in translating information from technical to executive terminology
  • Attention to Detail: Skilled at identifying subtle threats in security data
  • Adaptability: Quick to adjust to evolving security challenges and emerging technologies
  • Problem-solving: Possesses analytical thinking to resolve incidents and security threats effectively
  • Team Collaboration: Ability to work well within cross-functional teams, sharing insights and contributing to collective security

Education

  • MSc Information Security and Digital Forensics - University of East London (2024–2025)
  • BEng Electrical and Electronics Engineering - University of Ilorin (2014–2019)

CERTIFICATIONS

  • Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) - 2024
  • Practical Network Penetration Tester (PNPT) - 2024
  • Practical Malware Research Professional (PMRP) - 2023
  • Blue Team Level 1 (BLT1) - 2023
  • CompTIA Security+ - 2022

Areas of Expertise

  • Offensive Security: Penetration testing, ethical hacking, and understanding the attacker's mindset
  • Digital Forensics: Computer forensics, memory analysis, network forensics, and evidence preservation
  • Threat Hunting: Proactive threat detection, IOC development, and advanced persistent threat investigation
  • Incident Response: Emergency response, containment strategies, and post-incident analysis and reporting

Get in Touch