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Ansar Shaikh

Penetration tester: find it, prove it, explain the fix

I test web apps and APIs against OWASP categories, build small recon and scanning tools, and write up what I find.

Projects

  • Flags TLS 1.0/1.1, weak cookies

    webvuln-scanner

    CLI that checks security headers, cookie flags and TLS on sites you own and grades them. On the lab targets it gave A to a hardened site and F to a self-signed, old-TLS one.

    • Python
    • TLS
    • HTTP
  • OWASP Top 10, 24 tests

    secure-shortener

    URL shortener where every control maps to an OWASP Top 10 category with a named test. A live run blocked the cloud metadata URL with 400 and rate-limited brute force with 429.

    • Python
    • FastAPI
    • SQLite
    • pytest
  • 6/6 seeded defects caught

    api-qa-suite

    Security and functional tests for an API with 6 seeded OWASP API Top 10 defects: 9 tests fail on the vulnerable build, all 28 pass on the fixed one.

    • pytest
    • schemathesis
  • 10 TP, 0 FP, 0 FN

    secrets-leak-guard

    gitleaks config with custom rules for Indian formats such as Razorpay keys and Aadhaar numbers, a pre-commit hook that blocked a staged token, and a history scan that found a secret a later commit deleted. 20 pytest checks pass; the corpus is hand-written, and the README says so.

    • gitleaks
    • Python
    • pytest
  • 355 findings to 185

    vulnops

    Merges Trivy, Grype and ZAP output, removes cross-tool duplicates and ranks what is left by CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS into a static dashboard. On a lab scan 355 raw findings became 185 after dedup.

    • Python
    • Trivy
    • Grype
    • OWASP ZAP

More on GitHub

spring-secure-api · pcap-hunter · ioc-aggregator

Skills

  • Web and API testing: OWASP Top 10 and API Top 10, Burp Suite, IDOR, SSRF, JWT issues, TLS and header review
  • Infrastructure: Nmap, Active Directory attacks, Linux and Windows privilege escalation
  • Tooling: Python, Bash, JavaScript, pytest, schemathesis

2025 B.E. Information Technology, Sinhgad Institute of Technology & Science (SPPU), Pune, with Honours in Cybersecurity.

Experience

  • Aug 2025 – Present

    CTF Player and Security Researcher · Hack The Box and TryHackMe

    Root Linux and Windows machines on Hack The Box and TryHackMe, including Active Directory attacks and privilege escalation, and write step-by-step reports. Placed 13th in the CloudSEK CTF (Aug 2025); read the writeup.

    • Active Directory
    • Privilege escalation
    • Nmap
    • Burp Suite
  • May – Jun 2024

    ServiceNow System Administrator, Virtual Intern · AICTE program

    Built ServiceNow ITSM reports and dashboards and completed the CSA labs.

    • ServiceNow

Certifications

  • Oct 2025

    Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Practical

    EC-Council · Credential ID ECC9356741028

  • Mar 2024

    Certified AppSec Practitioner (CAP)

    The SecOps Group · Credential ID 8481909

Other roles: SOC analyst · Cloud security & DevSecOps · DevOps / SRE / NOC · AI security · Software & QA · Security (SOC, VAPT and AI security) · Writing