Gabriella K.

About

I'm a career-changer building into cyber security, and I do it the hands-on way.

After eight years as a technical business analyst and delivery consultant across enterprise SaaS, health, and defence, I decided to stop working next to security and move into it properly. I'm completing a Master of Cyber Security (Security Engineering) at UNSW, where penetration testing is my strongest subject (High Distinction), my GPA ia 3.8, and I sit CompTIA Security+ in October 2026.

What I actually do:

Offensive security: through my master's and self-directed labs, I run full-chain machine compromises and web-application assessments and write them up as professional, engagement-style reports (CVE and OWASP mapping, CVSS ratings, real remediation). Hardware and physical access control is my strongest area, RFID, NFC, and PACS, backed by formal Red Team Alliance training. I also break AI and LLM systems through prompt-injection challenges for the challenge of it.

Security and compliance: hands-on with PCI DSS, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and NIST, from assessing enterprise environments against them to leading a defence-industry accreditation end to end.

The bridge most people miss: I turn technical findings into something non-technical stakeholders can actually act on, and I write them up clearly. Eight years of client-facing delivery taught me that a finding nobody understands is a finding nobody fixes.

A proud member of Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS), and I care about widening the door into this field. I wrote about exactly that in Women in Security Magazine, because I know how hard the nonlinear path in can be.

Open to roles in offensive security, security and compliance analysis, and GRC. Based near Dallas or Austin. Authorized to work in the US with no sponsorship needed, and open to remote or relocation for the right team. If you want someone genuinely technical who communicates well and will not stop learning, reach out.

Outside work: climbing, reading, and a workshop full of RFID gear I probably didn't need to buy.

noobdiaries.substack.com | github.com/GrumpyFinch

Specialties

• AI / ML Security
• ISO 27001
• NIST Framework
• SOC2 Compliance

Skills

• Penetration Testing Methodology
• Web Penetration Testing
• OWASP Top 10 (web and LLM)
• Privilege Escalation
• RFID Hacking
• NFC Hacking
• Physical Access Control (PACS) Hacking
• Relay Attacks
• AI Prompt Injection
• Large-Language-Model Agent Security

43 skills in total

Licenses & Certifications

• Python for Data Science: Fundamentals Part I

  Dataquest.io

  Issued Sep 2026

• Querying SQLite from Python Course

  Dataquest.io

  Issued Sep 2026

• Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt

  Coursera

  Issued Mar 2022

6 certifications in total

Experience

• Head of Customer Success

  Devicie Pty Ltd (Intune-native endpoint security platform)

  Nov 2022 — Jul 2023

  Sydney

• Business Analyst & Security Officer

  fifty ZOO

  Aug 2021 — Nov 2022

  Sydney

• Business Analyst & Delivery Consultant

  Prospection (PharmMap)

  Feb 2020 — Apr 2021

  Sydney

Education

• University of New South Wales

  Master of Cyber Security, Security Engineering

  Jul 2025 — Dec 2027

• University of Sydney

  Bachelor of Science, Geology and Geophysics

  Jul 2012 — Nov 2015