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Tim Salvador

Chicago, IL · [email protected]

Security leader focused on Security Operations, Incident Response, Threat Intelligence, and all things technical. I build pragmatic detection, response playbooks, and cloud security that scale.

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Current Focus & Projects

  • 🎯 Advanced Threat Hunting
    Red/Blue/Green CTF Exercises
    Competing in invite-only challenges to sharpen detection engineering and adversary emulation tradecraft.
  • 🔒 Secure IoT Architecture
    Home Assistant + Network Segmentation
    Applying 15+ years of enterprise segmentation to create zero-trust IoT ecosystems at home—skills directly transferable to industrial/OT environments.
  • 🤖 AI-Driven Detection Lab (Local Stack)
    Open WebUI + Ollama + Whisper
    Prototyping autonomous threat analysis workflows—extending SIEM/SOAR playbooks with private, offline AI agents.
  • 📚 Community & Mentorship
    Active in security communities, conferences, webinars, and mentoring—fostering knowledge sharing and professional growth.

Leadership Impact

  • Scaled SOC operations from scratch to 50+ alerts/day—achieved 80%+ noise reduction through custom detection rules and SIEM automation.
  • Directed incident response for ransomware, credential theft, and DDoS attacks—contained threats in under 4 hours with zero data exfiltration.
  • Mentored analysts across career stages—guided progression to senior roles and management, with a track record of upward mobility.

Certifications

OSCP Certification - Offensive Security GCFA Certification - GIAC Digital Forensics AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Core Competencies

Skills

Experience

15 Year Highlights

Incident Response Leadership

Directed incident response programs, developing playbooks and automating SIEM processes to enhance accuracy and reduce response times across cloud, network, and endpoint environments.

Security Operations Engineering

Led SOC and security operations, implementing advanced tools to improve threat detection and strengthen network and cloud security frameworks.

Compliance and Risk Management

Developed strategies for threat hunting and compliance, driving vulnerability management and adherence to NIST, ISO 27001, PCI, and GDPR standards across diverse systems.

Network and Cloud Security Optimization

Designed secure network architectures and cloud solutions, leveraging cloud platforms to minimize attack surfaces and cut costs while enhancing operational performance.

What people say

“His passion for cybersecurity and team development is truly inspiring, and he has made a significant impact on our success.” — Cyber Security Professional, Incident Response

“I have yet to meet someone as dedicated and passionate about their job like Tim is.” — Director of InfoSec, Security Engineering

Education

DePaul University

Master of Science (MS)
Computer, Information and Network Security (CINS)

Affiliations: DePaul Sec Daemons, DePaul Linux Community, ISACA – DePaul

2011 - 2012

DeVry University

Bachelor of Science (BS)
Telecommunications and Network Management

Graduated with Honors – Cum Laude

2003 - 2006

Blog

Coming soon: Insights on DFIR, threat intelligence, and AI-driven security innovations.