Ermal.

Zdravo, me is Ermal
Cyber Securitee & Defenz Specialist from Serbia (real)

Born Novi Sad, raise by kabl and komandir. I serve in Serbian Army, now I guard digital border so hacker no pass. I make infra strong like Šljivovica, you know?

See Projekts Ping Me
Serbian Flag

Made in Serbia 🇷🇸 • Pun ponosa i bug reporta

About me (short story long)

I are cyber guy from Novi Sad. After army (Vojska Srbije, salute!), I jump into SOC, hunting threat like wolf in Fruska Gora. I protect ministrees, univerzitet, elektro-thing and water pipe from bad guy with laptop.

I like share brain too: mentor small hacker kid in CTF, talk on RS Cyber Night (Belgrade, big city yes), and send indicator to CERT-RS so neighbor no cry later.

Fast Fact (no slow)

  • Name: Ermal
  • Nationality: Serbia 100%
  • Base: Novi Sad & Belgrade (remote ok, village also ok)
  • Langvages: Serbian native, English kinda-ok, bash script fluent

Hobiz

  • Reading book of Andrić, Pekić, and cyber thriller where hacker always wear hoodie
  • Walking fortress Petrovaradin, Kalemegdan; climb Tara, Kopaonik when server not on fire
  • CTF, reverse malware, yelling at IDA when it not decompile nice
  • Teach kids in Vojvodina to no click shady link with “FREE BITCOIN”

Experienz (job I do)

  1. 2022

    Lead Threat Hunter — Cyber Defense Center, Ministry of Defense (Belgrade)

    Jan 2022 – now still

    • I boss of 6 people, we sniff APT like burek smell morning, catch them in supply chain.
    • Put MITRE ATT&CK rule in ELK & Sentinel, hacker dwell time go down 47% (math hard but good).
    • Purple team with Brigada veze, we break then fix, write SOP with much CAPS LOCK.
    • Share intel with CERT-RS and neighbor friendo, phishing cross-border go byebye.
  2. 2019

    SOC Analyst & Forenzik Lead — 224th Signal Battalion, Serbian Armed Forces

    Oct 2019 – Dec 2021

    • Look into 300+ incident, write report for General Staff (they like PDF, I give many).
    • Make Graylog eat all log from many kasarna, visibility +60% (I measure with feeling).
    • Teach 20+ junior soldier: memory grab, radio secure, malware autopsy (no real body).
  3. 2017

    IT Securiti Specialist — University of Novi Sad (kontrakt)

    Mar 2017 – Sep 2019

    • Harden web thing, tell researcher “pls no SQLi, danke” and open vuln disclosure.
    • Put MFA and zero trust (aka no trust) in lab with sensitive data, no leak happen (yay).
    • Help tech faculty build baby SOC for students, much fun, little sleep.
  4. 2015

    Conscription & Signal Corps Training — Serbian Armed Forces

    Aug 2015 – Feb 2017

    • Do mandatory service, learn secure comms and network stuff, march also.
    • Deploy encrypt box and satellite link in exercise, feel like sci-fi movie.
    • Found love for cyber defend when catch intrusion on intranet, commander say “bravo momak”.

Projekts (Serbia fokus)

"Dunav Shield" Threat Intel Platform

2023

Home-made CTI mashine: mix OSINT, darknet, honeypot. Spit STIX/TAXII like ćevap machine. Send to CERT-RS and ministry buddy. Everyone happy (except attacker).

  • Python
  • Elasticsearch
  • MISP

Red vs Blue Drilovi sa Brigadom Veze

2022

Make fake phishing, lateral move, boom! Then write AAR, change SOP, do again. Soldiers yell, we learn, system stronger.

  • MITRE ATT&CK
  • Purple Teaming
  • Windows DFIR

"Sava NetGuard" — Segmentation for Uni Labs

2018

Cut network into many small piece so hacker confused. University of Novi Sad sleep calm, no critical boom for 18 month.

  • pfSense
  • Ansible
  • Zero Trust (zero, nada)

Skilz & Toolz

Cyber & DFIR

  • Threat hunting / SOC ops (night shift champion)
  • Memory & disk forenzik (Volatility, Autopsy, lot of coffee)
  • Malware analysis (IDA Free, Ghidra, swearing)
  • Network watch (Zeek, Suricata, tcpdump when bored)

Dev & Automatizacija

  • Python (script all the thing)
  • Bash / PowerShell (one-liner master)
  • SIEM enginering (ELK, MS Sentinel, Graylog too)
  • IaC with Ansible (playbook or playdead)

Soft Skilz (brain & mouth)

  • Lead team, not scream (sometimes scream)
  • Write report for komandant, add many diagram for trust
  • Training & workshop, show slide, break lab, fix lab
  • Work civil + military, translate geek to general and back

Certifikati

  • GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA) – 2023
  • CompTIA Security+ – 2020
  • Serbian MOD Cyber Defense Course – 2021

Edukacija

  • B.Sc. Information Technology — University of Novi Sad, 2015
  • Signal & Comms Training — Serbian Armed Forces, 2016