Computer Networking graduate (Cum Laude) · Postgraduate IT student
Networks & infrastructure · Security specialisation: offensive & blue team
I'm a Computer Networking graduate (Advanced Diploma, Cum Laude - CUT Best Student 2025), now doing a Postgraduate Diploma in IT. My foundation is enterprise networking and Windows infrastructure - routing and switching, VLANs, WAN design, Active Directory, servers.
On top of that base I specialise in security: web application penetration testing on the offensive side, and SOC monitoring, detection engineering and incident response on the defensive side. Networks are what I understand; securing them is what I'm building a career on.
Everything here is hands-on: real labs I built and broke, real findings I documented, and real reports written the way they'd be delivered to a client. I learn by doing and write it all up so the work speaks for itself.
- 🔭 Building practical network, infrastructure and security labs
- 🌱 Deepening my skills in network architecture, web app security and threat detection
- 🛡️ Methodologies I work to: OWASP Top 10 / WSTG, MITRE ATT&CK, CVSS v3.1
- 📫 Reach me: marolesizwe1@gmail.com
| Award | Year |
|---|---|
| ITWeb Security Summit 2026 Hackathon - CTF Blue Teaming challenge (Team N0T0R10S) | 2026 |
| SANReN Cyber Security Challenge - 3rd Place (Team N0T0R10S) | 2025 |
| Cybersecurity4D / PAICTA - 1st Runner-Up | 2025 |
| CUT Best Student Award (Advanced Diploma: Computer Networking) | 2025 |
| Certification | Issuer | Issued | Credential ID |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) | Microsoft | Oct 2024 | Verify via Microsoft Learn |
| Network Security | Cisco Networking Academy | May 2024 | — |
| NDG Linux Essentials | NDG / Cisco Networking Academy | May 2024 | — |
| IT Essentials: PC Hardware and Software | Cisco Networking Academy | Nov 2022 | — |
Programmes & training completed
| Programme | Provider | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Cybersecurity Virtual Internship | MWR CyberSec | Jul 2026 |
| Cyber Security 101 (learning path) | TryHackMe | Mar 2026 |
| Pre Security (learning path) | TryHackMe | Feb 2026 |
| Project | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Enterprise Network Design | Secure, redundant LAN / data centre / VPN design for a mid-sized organisation. |
| WAN Network Design | WAN topology with VLSM subnetting and EVE-NG/UNetLab simulation. |
| Telco Network Project (WIL) | Work-Integrated Learning telecommunications network design & documentation. |
| Hybrid Server Infrastructure Lab | Hyper-V, Active Directory, Storage Spaces, FSRM, deduplication & Windows Server hardening. |
| EduStream Cloud Architecture Portfolio | Full Azure cloud architecture design: adoption strategy, IaC (Bicep), CI/CD, blue-green releases, observability, and cost modelling. |
| Project | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Blue Team SOC Lab | SOC on AWS EC2 with Splunk: brute-force, recon, phishing, PCAP forensics, threat hunting & IR - all MITRE ATT&CK mapped. |
| Project | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Web Application Penetration Test | Full black-box web app pentest: RCE, SQLi, IDOR, stored XSS, JWT flaws chained to account takeover. CWE / OWASP / CVSS mapped. |
| Pentesting Portfolio | Index of web-app pentest reports and TryHackMe write-ups. |
| Project | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Qhaphela - AI Job Fraud Detection | Chrome extension + FastAPI service scoring job postings for fraud with a scikit-learn Random Forest / TF-IDF model and SHAP explanations, built for South African job seekers. UNESCO Youth Hackathon 2026 entry, co-built with Molemi Molokoane. |
- Networking: VLANs · inter-VLAN routing · VLSM · OSPF · IPsec VPN · EVE-NG / UNetLab · Cisco
- Infrastructure: Windows Server · Active Directory · Hyper-V · Storage Spaces · AWS EC2 · Azure · Linux
- Defensive security: Splunk SIEM · detection engineering (SPL) · auditd · Wireshark / tcpdump · threat hunting · incident response
- Offensive security: Burp Suite · SQL injection · XSS · IDOR / broken access control · file-upload RCE · JWT analysis · WAF bypass
- Standards: OWASP Top 10 / WSTG · MITRE ATT&CK · CVSS v3.1 · POPIA
