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JoshuaZacharia.

role:

Securing systems, building software, and crafting digital experiences —
one line of code at a time.

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About Me

Joshua Zacharia

Photo coming soon

jz.portfolio

Building secure
digital systems.

I'm Joshua Lerin Zacharia — a cybersecurity professional, AI security researcher, and game developer based in Flagstaff, AZ. Currently completing my Masters in Information Technology at Northern Arizona University (graduating May 2026).

I've spent 2+ years as a Cybersecurity Officer at FreshStory Foods where I engineered AWS cloud security infrastructure and cut deployment times by 92%. Now I build behavioral authentication systems, ML-driven intrusion detection, and AI-powered security tools — all from scratch.

On the creative side, I'm a solo game developer shipping real titles in Unreal Engine and GameMaker, a React Native app developer, and a two-time GDC attendee (2025 & 2026, San Francisco).

2+
Years industry experience
7+
Real projects shipped
1
Publication submitted
GDC
2025 & 2026 attendee

Skills

What I work with.

🛡️

Cybersecurity

Network SecurityPenetration Testing Threat DetectionIncident Response AWS SecuritySIEM WiresharkNmap IAM / KMSVAPT
💻

Software & AI

PythonC#C++ React NativeBashPowerShell Machine LearningScikit-learn XGBoostRAG / LLM
🎮

Game Dev

Unreal EngineUnityGameMaker C++C#GML AI / FSMNavMesh MetaSoundsMultiplayer

Tools I Use

My arsenal.

🐧
Linux
🐍
Python
🔍
Nmap
🦈
Wireshark
☁️
AWS
🛡️
GuardDuty
🔐
Burp Suite
📊
SIEM
🤖
Scikit-learn
🎮
Unreal Engine
⚔️
Unity
🎯
GameMaker
📱
React Native
📝
VS Code
🗄️
ChromaDB
💻
PowerShell

Experience

My journey.

Aug 2025 — Jan 2026
Teaching Assistant
Northern Arizona University · Flagstaff, AZ
Assisted course instructor with lesson support, classroom facilitation, and course material organization. Evaluated and graded assignments, quizzes, and exams while guiding student problem-solving and participation.
Dec 2022 — Dec 2024
System Analyst & Cybersecurity Officer
FreshStory Foods and Beverages Pvt Ltd. · Bangalore, India
Engineered a fully automated CI/CD pipeline on AWS cutting deployment time from ~3 hours to under 15 minutes. Implemented hardened AWS security posture using IAM least-privilege, KMS encryption, VPC isolation, GuardDuty, and CloudTrail — achieving quarterly VAPT compliance and remediating all identified vulnerabilities.
Mar 2025 & Mar 2026
Attendee — Game Developers Conference
GDC · San Francisco, CA
Attended GDC 2025 and 2026 — engaging with NVIDIA, Google Cloud, Microsoft Xbox, and Tencent on AI-driven game infrastructure. Explored anti-cheat systems, adversarial AI risks, real-time rendering, and cloud gaming pipelines across technical sessions and workshops.
Jan 2025 — May 2026
Masters in Information Technology
Northern Arizona University · Flagstaff, AZ · Graduating May 2026
Focusing on cybersecurity, machine learning for security, and cloud infrastructure. Published research on SDN stability and security implications. Building real-world systems as capstone and personal projects.
Dec 2020
B.Sc. Computer Science
S.K. Somaiya College · Mumbai, India
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science — foundational knowledge in programming, systems, algorithms, and software engineering.
Download Cybersecurity Resume ↓ Download Game Dev Resume ↓

Projects

Things I've built.

View All Projects →
01 — Cybersecurity · Capstone
Continuous Behavioral Authentication
Real-time system verifying user identity during active sessions using behavioral biometrics — keystroke cadence and mouse dynamics. Built a 29-feature pipeline, trained Random Forest & SVM models, packaged as a standalone offline Windows app. Detects session hijacking and insider misuse after login.
PythonMLBiometricsPyInstaller
2026 →
02 — Cybersecurity · AI
Autonomous Windows Security Monitor
Multi-agent system auditing firewall rules, privileges, registry policies, and antivirus every 5 minutes. Powered by a local LLM (Llama via Ollama) with RAG to generate remediation steps based on CIS, NIST, and Microsoft baselines. Fully offline — no cloud required.
PythonLLMRAGChromaDB
2026 →
03 — Cybersecurity · ML
ML-Driven Intrusion Detection System
Machine learning IDS trained on CIC-IDS2017 and UNSW-NB15 datasets. Full pipeline with feature extraction, imbalance handling, and multi-class attack classification. SHAP-based explainability identifies critical network features driving detections.
PythonXGBoostSHAPScikit-learn
2025 →
04 — Mobile App
SB Fitness — React Native App
Full-stack cross-platform fitness tracking app built with React Native & Expo. Real-time workout logging with automatic 1RM calculation, multi-week program builder, 100+ exercise database across 11 muscle groups, PR tracker with progression charts, superset support, progress photos, and calendar view.
React NativeExpoAsyncStorageiOS/Android
2026 →
05 — Game Dev · Horror
Project: Fear
Sole developer on a full survival horror game — C++/Blueprint programming, AI with navmesh pathfinding & state machines, grid-based inventory, environmental puzzles, dynamic flashlight with battery depletion, and complete 3D spatial audio design using Unreal MetaSounds.
Unreal EngineC++MetaSoundsAI
2024 →
06 — Game Dev · Game Jam
Fragment of the Mask
Complete action-survival game built solo in 48 hours at NAU Global Game Jam. OOP enemy AI with state machines, 5-mode player transformation system, wave-based difficulty scaling, adaptive audio — 60 FPS with 30+ simultaneous entities. Published on itch.io.
GameMakerGMLAI Systems
itch.io →

Blog

Thoughts & writeups.

View All Posts →
2025 · Research Publication
Stability & Load Balancing in Software-Defined Networks
Co-authored research analyzing how SDN instability and load imbalance amplify security vulnerabilities — including DoS attacks and delayed rule enforcement. Surveyed mitigation frameworks: FortNOX, FRESCO, AVANT-GUARD, and ElastiCon. Submitted for peer review.
Submitted for Review →
Feb 2026 · Game Dev
Building a Full Game in 48 Hours — Global Game Jam
How I designed, built, and shipped Fragment of the Mask solo — OOP enemy AI, 5-mode player transformation, adaptive audio, 30+ entities at 60 FPS. Cut 40% of planned features mid-jam to ship on time and publish on itch.io.
Read More →
Mar 2026 · Conference
AI, Security & the Future of Games: GDC 2026
My notes from GDC 2026 — NVIDIA and Google Cloud leading generative AI in gaming, adversarial risks from model abuse and automation exploits, anti-cheat architecture, and the emerging intersection of AI + cybersecurity in large-scale platforms.
Read More →

Certifications

Credentials.

🏅

Google Cybersecurity

Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate — threat detection, network security, incident response, Python automation, and security tools.

GoogleCybersecurity
🤖

Machine Learning A-Z

Udemy Machine Learning A-Z: AI, Python & R — supervised/unsupervised learning, deep learning, and model evaluation.

UdemyML / AIPython
🎮

Game Dev — Unreal & Unity

Udemy: Unreal Engine Survival Horror, Pro Unreal Game Coding, Unity Beginner to Advanced, Complete C# Unity 2D, Indie Game Developer, and Concept Art Character Design.

UdemyUnrealUnityC#

Contact

Let's work
together.

Whether you have an opportunity, a project, or just want to talk tech — my inbox is always open.

✉ [email protected] in LinkedIn