I build hands-on experience in IoT security and software fundamentals to prepare for internships and early-career roles.
Projects show applied work in IoT security and software fundamentals, including launch-and-defend exercises, attack simulations, and implementing TLS/mTLS defenses.
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Hydroficient · May 2026 · ✅ Verified by Extern
Build, hack, and defend real IoT infrastructure, then hand your security playbook to an actual company. You’ll launch realistic cyberattacks, from spoofing and replay attacks to unauthorized shutoffs, and implement defenses like TLS and mTLS.
Sep 2026
Architected a LangGraph pipeline running concurrent LLM agents for yfinance analysis and news retrieval via an arbiter agent. Engineered a deterministic guardrail node validating rating schemas and metrics to eliminate hallucinations. Deployed a Dockerized 24-hr TTL Neon Postgres cache and ChromaDB
I build hands-on experience in IoT security and software fundamentals to prepare for internships and early-career roles.
I am Zain Syed, a junior Computer Science student at the University of Houston working to build practical skills and a stronger resume before starting my career. I have completed hands-on coursework and an IoT cyber defense externship focused on attack and defense techniques for real devices.
Externships
Hydroficient IoT Cyber Defense Externship
Completed · May 2026
Experience
IoT Cyber Defense Extern
Extern · March 2026 – May 2026
Education
University of Houston
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science · Class of 2028
Skills
✅ Verified by Extern
Build, hack, and defend real IoT infrastructure, then hand your security playbook to an actual company. You’ll launch realistic cyberattacks, from spoofing and replay attacks to unauthorized shutoffs, and implement defenses like TLS and mTLS.
The project built, attacked, and hardened an IoT telemetry pipeline for a simulated 500-room resort. Work included an asset inventory and STRIDE threat model, Python analysis notebooks, an insecure MQTT implementation, TLS and mTLS hardening, replay-defeat experiments, a real-time dashboard, and an Isolation Forest prototype. The work was awarded Top Performer by Hydroficient.
I produced a defended IoT pipeline and supporting artifacts: a threat model with three critical risks, Colab notebooks and exported logs, a secured Mosquitto TLS/mTLS setup, replay-attack experiments showing full blockage, a real-time dashboard and slide deck, and an Isolation Forest anomaly prototype.
Sep 2026
Architected a LangGraph pipeline running concurrent LLM agents for yfinance analysis and news retrieval via an arbiter agent. Engineered a deterministic guardrail node validating rating schemas and metrics to eliminate hallucinations. Deployed a Dockerized 24-hr TTL Neon Postgres cache and ChromaDB
Architected a LangGraph pipeline running concurrent LLM agents for yfinance analysis and news retrieval via an arbiter agent. Engineered a deterministic guardrail node validating rating schemas and metrics to eliminate hallucinations. Deployed a Dockerized 24-hr TTL Neon Postgres cache and ChromaDB vector store on Render and Vercel to minimize redundant LLM calls.
Automated candidate profile analysis to generate targeted feedback by integrating the Gemini API into a custom Python-based screening tool. Achieved accurate context retrieval against target job descriptions by implementing CRUD operations and a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture usin
Designed and developed ClearRisk, a full-stack security posture review platform to assess small-business cybersecurity vulnerabilities and validate email domain records in a 48-hour sprint. Built the backend API using FastAPI and integrated Google Gemini with DNS validation tools to evaluate a 20-po
