Cybersecurity Risk & Reporting Graduate Assistant

Deepika Sai Mani Meka

346-***-**** # ****************@*****.*** ï linkedin.com/in/mekadeepika3

Education

University of Houston Houston, TX

Master of Science in Cyber Security May 2026

MLR Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Minor in Cyber Security May 2024 Technical Skills

• Cybersecurity Portfolio Reporting: Executive Dashboards, Portfolio Scorecards, Key Performance Indicators, Risk Metrics, Trend Analysis, Performance Reporting, Governance Materials, Executive Presentations

• Identity Governance & Access Management: Identity Governance, User Access Reviews, Role-Based Access Control, Least Privilege, Privileged Access Reviews, Access Certification, Active Directory, Identity Risk Analysis

• Risk, Crisis & Governance Management: Cybersecurity Risk Management, Crisis Management, Risk Registers, Issue Tracking, Dependency Analysis, Control Gaps, Remediation Governance, Strategic Planning, Executive Decision Support

• OT/ICS & Infrastructure Security: Operational Technology Security, Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity, IT/OT Risk Concepts, Network Segmentation, Asset Inventory, Vulnerability Management, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, MITRE ATT&CK

• Data Analysis & Visualization: Microsoft Excel, Power BI, SQL, Python, Data Consolidation, Data Validation, Metrics Analysis, Trend Identification, Dashboard Development, Management Reporting

• Security Operations & Collaboration: Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk Enterprise Security, IBM QRadar, Nessus, Qualys, ServiceNow, Cross-Functional Coordination, Stakeholder Communication, Technical Documentation Experience

Graduate Assistant – IT Security Support Aug 2024 – Present University of Houston Houston, TX

• Developed cybersecurity scorecards, recurring status reports, and executive-ready presentations by consolidating security alerts, access-review findings, remediation status, and operational risks for university technology stakeholders

• Analyzed identity and access data to identify inactive accounts, excessive privileges, role inconsistencies, and least-privilege gaps, coordinating with system owners to validate access requirements and complete remediation actions

• Served as a liaison between information security, infrastructure, application support, and business stakeholders to gather reporting inputs, clarify technical dependencies, and communicate risks in concise decision-ready formats

• Improved governance documentation by standardizing risk registers, issue trackers, remediation updates, and management summaries, enabling clearer visibility into priorities, ownership, dependencies, and unresolved control gaps

SOC Analyst May 2023 – Jul 2024

CDK Global Hyderabad, India

• Analyzed 300+ daily security events and operational metrics across SIEM, endpoint, firewall, vulnerability, and access-management sources to identify trends, emerging risks, control gaps, and opportunities for process improvement

• Produced portfolio-level vulnerability scorecards for 200+ production systems, tracking severity, asset criticality, remediation ownership, aging, dependencies, and service-level performance to support leadership prioritization

• Coordinated remediation activities across security, network, infrastructure, and application teams, sustaining a 92% vulnerability-remediation target while escalating overdue risks and cross-workstream dependencies

• Automated recurring governance reports using Python and PowerShell, reducing manual data consolidation and reporting effort by 40% while improving the accuracy and consistency of executive security metrics Projects

Secure Cloud Architecture & CSPM Automation Pipeline AWS, Python, Wiz, CIS Benchmarks

• Architected an automated multi-account AWS security pipeline using Python to continuously parse native CloudTrail and Security Hub event streams, evaluating configuration posture against rigid CIS Benchmarks parameters

• Implemented a programmatic risk scoring utility that flags public Amazon S3 buckets, exposed RDS endpoints, and unencrypted AWS KMS resources, reducing critical time-to-remediate indicators by 50% across test runs

• Designed API-driven integrations with modern CSPM interfaces to isolate serverless code execution loops within AWS Lambda, verifying strict least-privilege IAM roles and eliminating structural communication blind spots

• Produced comprehensive technical blueprints, remediation playbooks, and security architecture validation documentation used to align fast-paced deployment workflows with the foundational AWS Well-Architected Framework

Hybrid Enterprise Network Security & Threat Simulation Lab NAC, Splunk, IDS/IPS, WAF

• Built a virtualized corporate infrastructure laboratory running automated Network Access Control (NAC) logic alongside inline network security tools, tracking real-time packet behavior across multi-segmented network zones

• Authored 15+ Splunk SPL and Sentinel KQL detection rules capturing anomalies like malicious network scans and web exploitation tricks, checking rule fidelity through controlled attacks with zero production network impacts

• Optimized Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule parameters and intrusion detection thresholds, minimizing network telemetry capture drops by 15% while sustaining a false-positive rate under a strict 3% tolerance limit

• Compiled detailed incident analyst playbooks outlining clear event validation protocols, packet capture (PCAP) parsing methods, and immediate boundary isolation workflows to speed up enterprise security operations response teams

Certifications

• ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity (CC), CompTIA Security+, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Leadership & Activities

Internal Affairs Lead 2021 – 2024

HACNIC Cybersecurity Club, MLR Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India

• Directed 10+ cybersecurity workshops and governance-focused initiatives by coordinating schedules, consolidating team inputs, tracking dependencies, and preparing leadership-ready updates for student and faculty stakeholders

• Created scorecards and presentations summarizing participation, project progress, security risks, unresolved issues, and upcoming priorities, helping leadership make informed decisions across multiple concurrent activities

• Facilitated collaboration among technical teams, event coordinators, and academic stakeholders to identify resource needs, resolve cross-workstream gaps, and improve the execution of cybersecurity programs

• Standardized reporting templates, project trackers, and communication materials that contributed to a 40% increase in active club participation and improved visibility into program performance

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