Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
Certification
Timeline
Generic

Gokulakrishnan Venugopalan

Security Analyst L3
Hyderabad

Summary

Skilled cybersecurity specialist with over a decade of hands-on experience in Security Operations, Incident Response (Windows & Linux/Unix) and working knowledge of Digital Forensics. Proven expertise in managing SOC operations, threat detection, and response across enterprise environments. Strong understanding of network security, vulnerability management, and industry frameworks like NIST. Adept at investigating complex threats, mitigating risks, and implementing security controls. Experienced in working independently and collaboratively, with a consistent track record of delivering high-quality results under pressure.

Overview

12
12
years of professional experience
2013
2013
years of post-secondary education
7
7
Certifications

Work History

Security Analyst L3 – SecOps

Armor Defence
09.2024 - Current
  • Conducted monthly proactive threat hunts using Microsoft Sentinel, Defender (MDE, MDI, MDO), and ChaosSearch, uncovering undetected threats across cloud, endpoint, and identity signals.
  • Led incident response as a first responder for critical alerts; performed end-to-end investigations using guided response workflows aligned with MITRE ATT&CK and internal threat models.
  • Prepared and delivered detailed incident reports with Root Cause Analysis (RCA), outlining incident timeline, impact, containment steps, and long-term remediation recommendations.
  • Created and maintained detection use cases, developing custom KQL-based alert rules, anomaly hunting logic, and enrichment patterns tailored to specific client environments.
  • Authored and operationalized incident response playbooks for scenarios including suspicious PowerShell activity, lateral movement, credential theft, and data exfiltration, streamlining triage and escalation processes.
  • Delivered monthly customer security reviews, summarizing incident trends, hunt findings, detection gaps, and proposed tuning actions; supported presales teams with security-specific RFC presentations.
  • Tuned and optimized alerts by analyzing real-time logs and correlated events from Sentinel, Defender, and QRadar, driving noise reduction and improved detection fidelity.
  • Supported onboarding of new detection tools and processes, proposed SOC workflow enhancements, and actively contributed to detection engineering projects.
  • Mentored L1/L2 SOC analysts, facilitated guided investigations, and kept detection content current by tracking CVEs, APT TTPs, and threat intelligence.

Senior IT Security Analyst – Security Operations & Security Engineering

YEXT INC
11.2021 - 06.2024
  • Key member of the core team responsible for establishing Security Operations Center (SOC)
  • Lead Incident Response as a First Responder, creating and submitting detailed IR reports based on investigation findings.
  • Facilitate post-incident review meetings.
  • Documented and updated incident response procedures and playbooks.
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to address complex security incidents, minimizing potential damage.
  • Authored security incident reports, highlighting breaches, vulnerabilities and remedial measures.
  • Deliver Brown Bag Sessions to enhance team knowledge on various tools and operations.
  • Serve as a Blue team member for Tabletop Exercises (Purple team activities)
  • Conduct proof-of-concept (PoC) evaluations on SIEM/SOAR platforms (Coralogix, Hunters), Zero Trust/DLP platforms (Zscaler, Netskope), and EDR solutions (SentinelOne, CrowdStrike), providing assessment reports to leadership.
  • Delegate tasks to Junior SOC Analysts, assist in work ramp-up, and support training during investigations.
  • Provide evidence for audits, user access reviews, and compliance requirements.
  • Conduct security awareness sessions for new employees.
  • Integrate data sources into SIEM from both on-premises and cloud environments.
  • Develop custom detectors and scoring rules in Hunters SIEM platform for fine-tuning and alert generation.

Senior Security Analyst – Enterprise Security

POLY INC (POLYCOM + PLANTRONICS)
07.2017 - 10.2021
  • Responded to security events, alarms, and incidents, performing analysis using AlienVault USM, ELK Kibana, and Exabeam UEBA.
  • Sourced, aggregated, and analyzed log data from network devices, security devices, and other critical assets.
  • Analyzed network attacks, blocks, and detections, conducting regular health check-ups across the entire enterprise environment.
  • Analyzed files and network artifacts using a bare metal sandboxing environment.
  • Monitored and executed incidents using Microsoft E3 and E5 Office 365 solutions.
  • Generated initial incident response reports following attack investigations.
  • Utilized PowerShell for Active Directory searches and scripting to purge phishing campaigns.
  • Assessed the security impact of traffic anomalies on internal and external networks.
  • Assisted examiners during internal and external audits.

Security Analyst

PRUF INC
11.2015 - 06.2017
  • Responded to security events and incidents, performing analysis using Qradar SIEM in a 16/5 SOC MSSP.
  • Sourced, aggregated, and analyzed log data from network and security devices.
  • Conducted network analysis to diagnose threats using TCP/IP protocols.
  • Maintained awareness of current hacker techniques, vulnerabilities, and countermeasures.
  • Managed Data Loss Prevention incidents and developed remediation protocols.

Junior SOC Analyst

XEROX
10.2013 - 09.2015
  • Provided 24/7 security monitoring and alerting services, performing log analysis to identify security issues using Qradar SIEM solution.
  • Monitored Intrusion Prevention Systems, Intrusion Detection Systems, firewalls, and antivirus for analysis and reporting, and managed Data Loss Prevention incidents, developing remediation protocols.

Education

Master of Science - Industrial Engineering

University of New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut

Bachelor of Science - Marine Engineering

Vels University

Skills

  • SIEM
  • SOAR
  • Hunters
  • Sumologic
  • ExaBeam UEBA
  • ELK Kibana
  • AlienVault USM
  • Qradar
  • MS Sentinel
  • Defender for Endpoint
  • Incident response
  • Threat Hunting
  • Threat intelligence
  • IPS
  • IDS
  • FireEYE
  • Identity and Access management
  • Vulnerability assessment
  • Security information and event management

Certification

Microsoft Certified: SC-200 – Security Operations Analyst Associate

Timeline

Security Analyst L3 – SecOps

Armor Defence
09.2024 - Current

Senior IT Security Analyst – Security Operations & Security Engineering

YEXT INC
11.2021 - 06.2024

Senior Security Analyst – Enterprise Security

POLY INC (POLYCOM + PLANTRONICS)
07.2017 - 10.2021

Security Analyst

PRUF INC
11.2015 - 06.2017

Junior SOC Analyst

XEROX
10.2013 - 09.2015

Bachelor of Science - Marine Engineering

Vels University

Master of Science - Industrial Engineering

University of New Haven
Gokulakrishnan VenugopalanSecurity Analyst L3