GK / SECURITY ARCHITECT
PUNE · IN --:--:-- v.2026
SECURITY ARCHITECT — EST. 2018

Gajanan
Khekade.

I build security that moves with the business, not against it. Seven years across product security, application security, and the messy human edges where engineering meets risk.

Application Security Product Security Threat Modeling Cloud Security Secure SDLC VAPT
01 ABOUT

A practitioner, not a policy printer.

Security shouldn't slow the build — it should make the build trustworthy. That's the bet I keep making, and so far it keeps paying off.

I'm a security architect with seven-plus years across the stack — application security, product security, infrastructure, cloud, and the secure SDLC work that quietly holds it all together. My day-to-day lives at the intersection of offensive testing and defensive architecture: breaking things to understand them, then designing systems that don't break the same way twice.

I started in the trenches doing penetration testing for banks and fintechs — networks, web apps, mobile, the full PCI-DSS gauntlet. That work taught me what most security advice misses: the gap between a finding in a report and a fix in production is enormous, and bridging it is mostly about relationships, not tools.

Today I lead product security advisory across multiple business units in a global enterprise environment. I drive threat modeling sessions with engineering teams, manage SAST/SCA remediation workflows, advise on penetration testing outcomes, and partner with DevSecOps, cloud, and infrastructure teams to scale practices that actually stick.

I care about the work that doesn't show up on a dashboard — the conversation that turns a "no" into a "yes, but here's a safer way", the threat model that quietly kills a bad idea before it ships, the developer who reaches out months later because the security review actually helped. That's the bar I keep moving toward.

When I'm not in code or in a threat model, I'm reading Stoic philosophy, the Bhagavad Gita, or anything on peak performance — the same disciplines that make a good security program also make a good life. Defense in depth applies to both.

01 / PRINCIPLE

Shift left, but land where it matters

Security earlier in the SDLC only works if developers actually adopt it. I optimize for adoption, not theatre.

02 / PRINCIPLE

Threat models are conversations

A threat model is only as useful as the engineering decisions it changes. I run them as workshops, not audits.

03 / PRINCIPLE

Risk over compliance, every time

Compliance is a side-effect of doing the right thing. Lead with risk, the certifications follow.

04 / PRINCIPLE

Translate, don't dictate

Security insights are useless if engineers and execs can't act on them. Clarity is the deliverable.

02 LEADERSHIP

How I show up at the table.

Security leadership isn't about being the loudest voice in the room — it's about making the right call easier for everyone else. After seven years across product teams, banks, and enterprise security, here's the leadership I bring.

01

Cross-functional alignment

Bridging engineering, product, security, and leadership so insights translate into decisions that ship. The deliverable isn't the report — it's the alignment that follows it.

02

Mentorship & uplift

Coaching early-career security folks, running threat modeling workshops with developers, and treating every engagement as a chance to leave a team more capable than I found it.

03

Program ownership

Driving security programs end-to-end — discovery, prioritization, remediation, reporting. Turning ambiguous risk into a roadmap with clear owners and measurable outcomes.

04

Strategic advisory

Translating technical findings into business-grade narratives. Helping leaders see what risk looks like in their context — and what doing nothing actually costs.

05

Decisions under uncertainty

Security work rarely has clean answers. I lead by anchoring on principles, weighing trade-offs honestly, and committing — clarity beats consensus when the clock is running.

06

Building security culture

Security is a habit, not a checkpoint. I focus on rituals, champions, and friction-reduction — the unglamorous infrastructure that makes secure-by-default the path of least resistance.

03 SOFT SKILLS

The skills no certificate actually tests.

Stakeholder communication
Speaking the dialect of every room — engineer, exec, auditor.
Executive narrative
Turning technical findings into stories leadership can act on.
Cross-team collaboration
Working with people whose incentives don't always match yours.
Negotiation & influence
Getting to "yes, but safer" without burning relationships.
Conflict resolution
Disagreeing well, especially when stakes and egos are high.
Mentoring & coaching
Pulling other people up while still doing the work.
Workshop facilitation
Threat modeling, design reviews, retros — making sessions productive.
Strategic thinking
Picking which problem matters before solving any of them.
Risk-based judgment
Knowing when to escalate and when to absorb the trade-off.
Active listening
Hearing what's actually being asked, not what's being said.
Calm under pressure
Incidents happen. Panic doesn't ship a fix.
Continuous learning
The threat landscape doesn't pause. Neither do I.
04 EXPERTISE

The full stack of security.

From the application layer down to the cloud control plane, here's the ground I've covered — and continue to cover — in production environments.

Application Security
DOM_01

Web, mobile, and API security testing aligned to OWASP frameworks. From scoping to reporting to working with developers on remediation that ships.

OWASP Top 10 OWASP MASVS OWASP MASTG OWASP ASVS API Security Burp Suite Postman
Product Security
DOM_02

Embedding security into product engineering — advisory across multiple business units, prioritizing what matters, killing what doesn't.

Security Reviews Design Reviews Risk Triage SDLC Integration Stakeholder Alignment
Threat Modeling
DOM_03

STRIDE, PASTA, attack tree analysis — running threat models as collaborative engineering exercises that produce real architectural decisions.

STRIDE PASTA Attack Trees Data Flow Diagrams Microsoft TMT IriusRisk
Secure SDLC / DevSecOps
DOM_04

Pipelines that catch issues without blocking releases. SAST, SCA, secret scanning, container security — wired into Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and the rest.

SonarQube Snyk Checkmarx Jenkins GitHub Actions Container Security Trivy
Cloud Security
DOM_05

Cloud-native security across AWS — IAM hardening, network architecture, security services, and configuration review against CIS benchmarks.

AWS IAM VPC Architecture GuardDuty Security Hub CIS Benchmarks CSPM
Infrastructure & Network
DOM_06

VAPT across servers, networks, and on-prem environments. Configuration reviews for Windows and Linux, internal/external network testing.

Network Pentesting Nmap Nessus Metasploit Wireshark Active Directory
Vulnerability Management
DOM_07

Implementing and tuning VM programs end-to-end — discovery, prioritization, tracking, and the unglamorous remediation follow-through that actually moves metrics.

VM Programs Risk Scoring CVSS SLA Management Reporting
Compliance & Frameworks
DOM_08

Hands-on with PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, NIST CSF, and Indian regulatory context — RBI guidelines, CERT-In, and the DPDP Act. Compliance as an outcome of good security, not the goal.

PCI-DSS ISO 27001 NIST CSF RBI Guidelines CERT-In DPDP Act
// TOOLING & TECHNOLOGIES
Burp Suite Pro
Nessus
Nmap
Metasploit
SonarQube
Snyk
Checkmarx
Wireshark
MobSF
Frida
Objection
OWASP ZAP
Postman
Jenkins
GitHub Actions
Docker
Kubernetes
Trivy
AWS Security Hub
GuardDuty
Microsoft TMT
IriusRisk
Python
Bash / PowerShell
05 JOURNEY

Seven years, one direction.

2024 — PRESENT

Senior Security Practitioner — Product Security

Leading product security advisory across multiple business units in a global enterprise environment. Driving threat modeling and secure SDLC activities with engineering teams, partnering with DevSecOps, cloud, and infrastructure teams to scale secure practices, and managing SAST/SCA remediation workflows. The work is increasingly about translation — turning security findings into engineering decisions that ship.

2021 — 2024

Security Tester — VAPT & DevSecOps

Three years deep in VAPT across infrastructure, web, mobile, and cloud. Conducted Android and iOS application security testing using OWASP MASVS and MASTG, performed web application pentesting against the OWASP Top 10, and ran configuration reviews on Windows and Linux servers in on-prem and cloud environments. Implemented vulnerability management tooling end-to-end and integrated SAST into Jenkins pipelines using SonarQube — early proof that DevSecOps lives or dies on developer experience.

2019 — 2021

Cyber Security Analyst

Where it really started. Managed end-to-end web application penetration testing projects from scoping through reporting. Led infrastructure, web, and mobile security engagements across multiple domains. Conducted on-site vulnerability assessments for major banking organizations and ran security projects for PCI-DSS compliance — both external and internal networks. The pace was relentless, and so was the learning curve.

2014 — 2018

BCA, Savitribai Phule Pune University

Bachelor of Computer Applications, with the kind of late-night curiosity about how systems break that eventually became a career. The formal foundation — but most of what I do now I learned in production.

06 CREDENTIALS

A learning discipline.

CERTIFIED

AWS Certified Solutions Architect — Associate

AMAZON WEB SERVICES

Cloud architecture, security services, and well-architected design across AWS.

CERTIFIED

AWS Security Specialty (SCS-C02)

AMAZON WEB SERVICES

Specialized cloud security — IAM, data protection, incident response, and infrastructure security on AWS.

CERTIFIED

Certified Threat Modeling Professional (CTMP)

PRACTICAL DEVSECOPS

Hands-on threat modeling using STRIDE, PASTA, and attack tree methodologies in real engineering contexts.

CERTIFIED

Certified in Cybersecurity (CC)

ISC2

Foundational cybersecurity principles, security operations, network security, and access controls.

CERTIFIED

Certified Information Security Consultant

INDUSTRY CREDENTIAL

Comprehensive information security consulting — risk, governance, and program design.

CERTIFIED

Intro to AWS for Non-Engineers: Cloud Concepts

LINKEDIN LEARNING / AWS

Foundational AWS concepts and cloud-native architecture principles.

TRAINING

CISSP Training

INFOSEC TRAIN

Comprehensive CISSP preparation across all eight domains of the (ISC)² Common Body of Knowledge.

COMPLETED

Security Architect Hands-on Training

INFOSEC TRAIN

End-to-end security architecture: design patterns, zero trust, identity, data protection, and architecture review boards.

ONGOING

Continuous Learning

SELF-DIRECTED

Active study across cloud-native security, AI/ML security, supply-chain attacks, and emerging threat landscapes.

07 CAPABILITIES

Where I can help.

/01

Application & Product Security Programs

Design and stand up AppSec programs that engineers don't dread — security champions, security reviews, design reviews, and the operational rituals that make security a habit instead of a checkpoint.

/02

Threat Modeling at Scale

Run threat modeling sessions for individual features, full products, or entire architectures. STRIDE, PASTA, attack trees — whichever fits the team. The output is always: clearer architecture, fewer surprises, better security decisions.

/03

VAPT — Web, Mobile, API, Network

Penetration testing across every surface that matters. Web apps against OWASP Top 10, mobile against MASVS/MASTG, APIs against the OWASP API Top 10, internal and external network testing for compliance and assurance.

/04

DevSecOps Pipeline Integration

SAST, SCA, secret scanning, container scanning, IaC scanning — wired into your CI/CD without turning every build red. Tooling matters less than thresholds, triage, and developer feedback loops.

/05

Cloud Security Reviews

AWS-focused cloud security audits — IAM hygiene, network segmentation, logging and detection coverage, configuration against CIS benchmarks, and architecture reviews against the AWS Well-Architected Security Pillar.

/06

Vulnerability Management Programs

Building or fixing VM programs that move from "scan and forget" to actual remediation — discovery, prioritization, SLAs, dashboards, and the cross-functional choreography that closes findings.

/07

Security Architecture Reviews

Architecture-level reviews for new products, major refactors, or M&A integrations. Identifying weak assumptions, control gaps, and the kind of structural issues that get expensive in production.

/08

Mentoring & Speaking

Available for mentoring early-career security folks, guest sessions on AppSec / threat modeling / DevSecOps, and conversations about how to break into product security from a pentesting background.

// LET'S TALK

Building something worth securing?

Open to conversations on AppSec, DevSecOps, cybersecurity leadership, threat modeling, or anything where security has to actually ship.