Omar Chaudhry

Professional Summary

Results-oriented cybersecurity professional with a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, CompTIA Security+ and CySA+ certifications, and federal government experience in IT audits, risk management, and controls assessment. Proven ability to identify security weaknesses, implement process improvements, and support compliance initiatives. Actively building hands-on defensive security capabilities through home lab projects focused on SIEM, vulnerability management, and incident response.

Consulting & Publications

Digital Wellness Consultant & Author

Independent Consulting | 2024 – Present

• Provide core consulting services focused on digital wellness, analyzing how technology platforms exploit human behavior and building policies to protect human attention and security.
• Authored the book Generation Cooked: How We Lost Tech Literacy in a Simplified World, examining declining tech literacy among younger generations and its direct impact on cybersecurity awareness and social engineering vulnerabilities.
• Conduct independent research and analysis bridging the gap between digital ethics, data privacy, and practical security education.

Professional Experience

IT Security & Compliance Analyst

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | December 2022 – June 2024

• Executed comprehensive IT security audits and assessed contractor compliance against federal Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and strict data protection requirements.
• Leveraged the Risk Management Framework (RMF) to evaluate and implement NIST 800-53 security controls across federal information systems and network endpoints.
• Conducted risk assessments for new software and AI-powered assistive technologies to ensure secure integration within the federal environment.
• Engineered a secure Problem Management lifecycle that mitigated recurring vulnerabilities, reduced exposure windows, and streamlined incident triage.
• Drafted and disseminated critical security advisories and system update documentation to a distributed workforce of over 17,000 federal employees and contractors.

Identity & Access Administrator

National Association of Counties (NACo) | August 2022 – December 2022

• Administered Identity and Access Management (IAM) protocols across on-premises Active Directory and Microsoft Azure cloud environments.
• Enforced Mobile Device Management (MDM) and endpoint security policies using Microsoft Intune to secure corporate data and remote assets.
• Audited hardware inventory and enforced principle-of-least-privilege access controls to prevent unauthorized data exposure and streamline offboarding procedures.

Blaschke Fund Research Fellow

The Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) | May 2022 – August 2022

• Researched and reported on cybersecurity, data privacy practices, and IT staffing challenges in K-12 school districts.
• Conducted interviews with CTOs, Directors of Technology, and security professionals; presented findings to trustees and leadership.
• Authored blog posts and analysis on cybersecurity awareness, data governance, and emerging threats in educational environments.

Technical Projects

Defensive Security Environment (Home Lab)

June 2026

• Building and managing a virtual enterprise environment using Wazuh SIEM, vulnerable target machines, and Kali Linux to execute threat detection and incident response workflows.
• Implementing continuous vulnerability scanning, network traffic monitoring, and custom detection rule creation to validate and strengthen practical CySA+ methodologies.
• Documenting configurations, attack simulations, and automated response playbooks on GitHub to demonstrate hands-on defensive capabilities.

Education & Certifications

• CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-003) – November 2025
• CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) – November 2024
• M.S. in Cybersecurity – Old Dominion University, June 2022

Skills