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Eswar Prasad Reddy Venna

Security Operations Engineer • Saint Louis, MO • e**************@gmail.com • +13******862 • linkedin.com/•••••

Professional Summary

Information Security Analyst with 4 years of hands-on experience in SIEM monitoring, EDR operations, incident response, vulnerability management, and compliance. Skilled with Microsoft Defender E5, Palo Alto XSIAM, Splunk and security automation to detect, investigate and remediate threats. Proven track record automating compliance evidence collection, improving response efficiency, and reducing remediation time while aligning operations to NIST and ISO 27001 controls.

Technical Skills

Programming Languages: Python,PowerShell,Bash
Databases: SQL
Cloud and DevOps: Ansible
Data and Analytics: RAG,Large Language Models,Data ingestion pipelines,Risk scoring pipelines
SIEM & Monitoring: Splunk,Palo Alto XSIAM,SIEM,Security Dashboards,Centralized Log Analysis
Endpoint & EDR: Microsoft Defender E5,EDR,Defender for Identity,Endpoint protection deployment
Identity & Access: Active Directory,Azure AD,Group Policy,LDAP,CyberArk
Threat Detection & Hunting: Threat Hunting,MITRE ATT&CK,Incident Response,Malware Analysis,Network Forensics
Governance & Compliance: NIST 800-53,NIST 800-171,ISO 27001,SOC 2,HIPAA,PCI-DSS,FERPA,CMMC 2.0,GDPR
Networking & Perimeter: Firewall configuration,TCP,IP,DNS,DHCP,Network connectivity testing

Work Experience

Merlin Solutions
Huston, TX
AI Security & Governance Analyst
Aug 2025 – Oct 2025
Tech Stack: Python, SQL, RAG, Large Language Models, AI agentic workflows, Data ingestion pipelines, Risk scoring pipelines
  • Architected an AI-driven cybersecurity assessment platform using Python, SQL and LLM-based RAG to automate evidence collection and control validation, reducing compliance cycles from 3 months to 2 weeks.
  • Built agentic workflow automation to orchestrate security reviews and audit request handling, improving clarity of findings and accelerating response actions across the security and compliance team.
  • Automated ingestion of unstructured data and developed risk-scoring pipelines to increase coverage of control analysis and speed audit documentation generation.
  • Partnered with an 8-member security and compliance group to align output with audit standards, improving readiness and standardizing governance reporting.
  • Engineered scalable data pipelines to enable repeatable compliance and security operations reporting, reducing manual handoffs and time-to-report.
  • Implemented compliance automation that generated dashboards and audit evidence artifacts to reduce manual evidence collection and support faster audit responses.
KETechies
St Louis
Information Security Analyst
Aug 2025 – Present
Tech Stack: Ansible, Security dashboards, SLA, KPI monitoring, Incident response playbooks, SOC 2, ISO 27001
  • Monitored security events across multiple platforms and implemented automated alert enrichment and triage workflows, improving incident response efficiency by 35%.
  • Investigated suspicious activity and coordinated escalations with IT Operations and compliance stakeholders to accurately determine impact and required remediation steps.
  • Managed security dashboards and KPI reporting for MTTR, SLA compliance and vulnerability remediation status to improve executive and operational visibility into telemetry and incidents.
  • Remediated multi-framework compliance gaps across HIPAA, FERPA, PCI-DSS, GDPR, ISO 27001 and SOC 2 by driving control ownership, evidence collection and closure tracking.
  • Optimized incident response playbooks and operational runbooks using Ansible to standardize actions and reduce response time by 25%.
  • Performed vendor risk assessments and maintained KPI monitoring to strengthen third-party compliance posture and operational controls.
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO
Infosec Analyst Intern
Jan 2024 – May 2025
Tech Stack: ACAS, Microsoft Defender E5, Palo Alto XSIAM, Splunk, EDR, SIEM
  • Executed security risk assessments and vulnerability scans using ACAS and Microsoft Defender E5, reducing high-risk vulnerabilities by 30%.
  • Developed incident response procedures mapped to MITRE ATT&CK and NIST 800-53 to improve triage, containment and incident documentation workflows.
  • Reconfigured Palo Alto XSIAM, EDR, firewall rules, Active Directory and Group Policy controls to close security gaps and lower incident volume by 25%.
  • Coordinated with IT and compliance teams to align policies with ISO 27001 and NIST controls, supporting audit evidence collection and reducing findings.
  • Automated centralized log analysis via SIEM and Splunk to validate telemetry, improve detection efficiency and support threat investigations.
  • Assisted threat hunting exercises using EDR telemetry and MITRE ATT&CK techniques to surface and validate persistent threats.
TATA Consultancy Services Ltd
Chennai
Information Security Analyst
Nov 2020 – Jun 2023
Tech Stack: Microsoft Defender E5, EDR, Defender for Identity, ACAS, MITRE ATT&CK, SIEM
  • Deployed Microsoft Defender E5 and EDR across enterprise environments, securing 1,000+ devices and significantly improving endpoint visibility.
  • Configured Defender for Identity on Active Directory and Domain Controllers to strengthen identity security, reducing identity-related incidents by 40%.
  • Directed threat and vulnerability management initiatives using ACAS and MITRE ATT&CK to identify exposed risks and improve compliance posture by 40%.
  • Integrated Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) and Automated Incident Response (AIR) policies across teams to standardize containment measures and improve incident resolution consistency.
  • Led migration of 500 endpoints and servers to Microsoft Defender E5 with SIEM integration to enhance threat analytics and detection capability.
  • Collaborated with cross-functional security teams to tune detections and develop playbooks that improved detection-to-response effectiveness.

Education

Saint Louis University
Master of Science in Cybersecurity • St Louis • Aug 2023 – May 2025
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University - Kakinada
Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering • Vijayawada, India • Jun 2016 – Oct 2020

Achievements

  • WWT Capture the Flag 2024 - 2nd Place — 2024: Secured 2nd place representing the Cyber Billikens team from Saint Louis University in a competitive cybersecurity CTF event.
  • National Cyber League (NCL) Spring 2025 - Top 5% National Rank — Spring 2025: Placed 34th out of 602 participants (95th percentile) in Cryptography, OSINT, and Scanning & Reconnaissance; awarded a Challenge Coin.
  • National Cyber League (NCL) Fall 2024 - Top 7% National Rank — Fall 2024: Ranked 55th out of 691 participants; strong performance in Enumeration & Exploitation, Log Analysis, and Cryptography; awarded a Challenge Coin.
  • Special Initiative Award - Tata Consultancy Services: Recognized for exceptional contributions and impactful initiatives that delivered measurable value to the organization.
  • Research Publication - Machine Learning for Air Pollution Prediction: Authored and published a paper on predictive modeling of air pollution using machine learning and neural networks in the International Journal of Scientific and Technology Research.

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