Formal education

[2024 - Present] Ph.D. in Computer Science - University of São Paulo (USP)

  • Research topics: malware analysis and detection, machine learning.
  • Relevant subjects: graph theory, cybersecurity, parallel computing and distributed systems.

[2023 - 2024] Master's Degree in Management and Technology - Centro Paula Souza (CPS/FATEC-SP)

[2019 - 2022] Bachelor of Technology (BTech) in Computer Systems Networking - Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN)

  • Final project: Investigating the Use of SDN Technologies for Malware Analysis and Detection: State of the Art, Open Issues, and Research Challenges.
  • Research topics: malware analysis, software-defined networking, moving target defense, deep learning.

Research interests

Professional experience

[2023 - Present] Digital Forensics and Incident Response Specialist - Kaspersky Lab

  • Joined Kaspersky's Global Emergency Response Team (GERT).

[2021 - 2023] Cybersecurity Consultant & Professor - Daryus Consultoria e Treinamento

  • Conducted penetration testing in web applications, infrastructures, and mobile applications.
  • Performed reverse engineering of PE and APK files.
  • Led computer forensics investigations.
  • Conducted cloud computing audits to ensure security best practices were followed.
  • Provided guidance on secure development practices.
  • Led red team exercises to identify vulnerabilities in organizations' security defenses.
  • Designed and executed phishing campaigns to test and raise employees' security awareness.
  • Led the creation and implementation of robust incident response playbooks, optimizing response strategies for swift and effective resolution.
  • Actively contributed to ISO 27001 audits, ensuring adherence to information security standards.
  • Performed audits of critical systems to ensure they met security standards.
  • As a professor of post-graduate courses, instructed students in various topics related to information security, including: Malware analysis and reverse engineering; Mobile and wireless penetration testing; Incident response; Windows & Linux security; Secure programming; Network security; and IoT security.
  • Instructed courses in web application security, secure programming, and ethical hacking, with a focus on the following topics: OWASP Top 10 and Secure Coding Practices; OWASP Proactive Controls and API Security; SAST, DAST, and SCA techniques; DevOps and DevSecOps methodologies; Threat modeling for software security; Network, web application, and wireless network penetration testing.
  • Additionally, taught other related courses, such as Penetration Testing, Open-source Intelligence (OSINT), Ethical Hacking Foundation, Secure Programming Foundation, and NIST Cybersecurity Framework.

[2016 - 2022] Researcher, R&D Software Developer, and Tutor - Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte

  • Conducted research in information security, focusing on malware analysis and detection, software-defined networks, and moving target defense.
  • Authored and published research papers in multiple conferences and journals to share findings and contribute to advancements in the fields.
  • Conducted research in computer vision and image processing and developed practical applications in the field.
  • Designed and developed an ALPR (Automatic License Plate Recognition) application for embedded hardware, with a patent application filed.
  • Developed an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) application to extract text from images.
  • Created a deep learning-based face recognition application and API.
  • Main programming languages: Java and Python.
  • Other technologies: OpenCV, dlib, REST, Flask, MySQL, RFID.
  • Provided assistance to students studying operating systems, algorithms and data structures, offering guidance with course materials.

[2020 - 2021] Back-end Developer - SutHub

  • Designed and developed multiple Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools to automate repetitive tasks and improve productivity.
  • Conducted Static Application Security Testing (SAST) in the core system to identify and mitigate potential security risks.
  • Main programming language: Python.
  • Other technologies: Selenium, AWS (EC2, CloudWatch, and S3), MySQL.

[2018 - 2019] Information Security Analyst - Actions Security

  • Helped develop a Web Application Firewall (WAF).
  • Utilized Elastic Stack, Docker containers, and reverse proxies to achieve project goals.
  • Successfully implemented an OpenStack infrastructure, enabling increased efficiency and scalability.
  • Conducted penetration tests in web applications to identify security vulnerabilities.
  • Main programming languages: Python and C.
  • Other tools and technologies: OWASP Top 10, AWS, OpenStack, ModSecurity, Linux.

Skills

Complementary education

2026 - 2026 Postgraduate degree Forensic Sciences and Criminal Investigation, Faculdade de Minas (FACUMINAS)
2022 - 2023 Postgraduate degree Digital Forensics and Cyber Investigation, Instituto Daryus de Ensino Superior Paulista (IDESP)
2022 - 2022 Postgraduate degree Ethical Hacking and Cybersecurity, Centro de Inovação VincIT (UNICIV)
2018 - 2019 Certificate program Electronics, Digital Metropolis Institute (IMD)
2015 - 2018 Certificate programInformatics, Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN)

Certifications

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) (ISC)² Credential ID: 1068081
Offensive Security Exploit Developer (OSED) Offensive Security Credential ID: 57211857
Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) Offensive Security Credential ID: 57211857
GIAC Experienced Forensics Analyst (GX-FA) SANS Institute Credential ID: 131
GIAC Experienced Forensics Examiner (GX-FE) SANS Institute Credential ID: 107
GIAC Experienced Incident Handler (GX-IH) SANS Institute Credential ID: 488
GIAC Experienced Cybersecurity Specialist (GX-CS) SANS Institute Credential ID: 461
GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA) SANS Institute Credential ID: 23066
GIAC Certified Forensic Examiner (GCFE) SANS Institute Credential ID: 10619
GIAC Reverse Engineering Malware (GREM) SANS Institute Credential ID: 9604
GIAC Exploit Researcher and Advanced Penetration Tester (GXPN) SANS Institute Credential ID: 4045
GIAC Response and Industrial Defense (GRID) SANS Institute Credential ID: 2290
GIAC Linux Incident Responder (GLIR) SANS Institute Credential ID: 213
GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH) SANS Institute Credential ID: 50983
GIAC Cyber Threat Intelligence (GCTI) SANS Institute Credential ID: 4606
Certified Defensive Security Analyst (CDSA) Hack The Box Credential ID: HTBCERT-6D525669EA
CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) CompTIA Credential ID: WSLN0QL5NME1115Z
ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Auditor PECB Credential ID: ISLA1119651-2023-06
Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) EC-Council Credential ID: ECC9027651384
Certified Ethical Hacker (Practical) EC-Council Credential ID: ECC5379860241
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) EC-Council Credential ID: ECC8169403257
Pentest+ CompTIA Credential ID: 1035ZEWSF1Q415WQ
BSD Specialist Linux Professional Institute Credential ID: LPI000393801
LPIC-3: Security Linux Professional Institute Credential ID: LPI000393801
LPIC-3: Virtualization and Containerization Linux Professional Institute Credential ID: LPI000393801
LPIC-2: Linux Engineer Linux Professional Institute Credential ID: LPI000393801
LPIC-1: Linux Administrator Linux Professional Institute Credential ID: LPI000393801
Linux+ CompTIA Credential ID: 9BSTQ4TM5LEE1GKT
Certified in Cybersecurity (ISC)² Credential ID: 1068081

Honors & Awards

2026 3rd place (solo), SBSeg/FIRST CTF
2025 GIAC Security Expert (GSE) #409
2025 GIAC Security Professional (GSP) #479
2025 Best Paper Award, XXV SBSeg
2025 Youth Digital Ambassador, Global Digital Forum
2025 Top-3 Nominees, Global Digital Forum
2025 Outstanding Reviewer Award, XLIII SBRC
2024 GIAC Advisory Board
2023 CEH Master
2022 Academic Honors Diploma (Summa Cum Laude)
2022 Distinguished Paper Award, XL SBRC
2018 Capture the Flag Champion

Vulnerability disclosures

2025 CVE-2025-7771 Code Execution 8.7 HIGH CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
2019 CVE-2019-7634 Cross-site Scripting (XSS) 5.4 MEDIUM CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Patents & Software

BR512024001975-8 Software Heimdall-NG - Interface administrativa
BR512024000157-3 Software Heimdall: Solução para detecção de artefatos maliciosos em ambientes IoT por meio de machine learning
BR512022002010-6 Software PhishKiller
BR512019000141-9 Software NAVI Face Recognition API
BR512019000143-5 Software NAVI RPi Face Recognition
BR512019000144-3 Software NAVI-ALPR
BR512019000140-0 Software Sistema Embarcado para Medição de Pluviosidade e Gerenciamento SNMP
BR102018015493-1 Patent Sistema Embarcado para Reconhecimento Automático de Placas de Veículos
BR512018000086-0 Software OCR-NAVI

Academic service

Journal Reviewer

  • Cluster Computing - Springer Nature
  • Computer Communications - Elsevier
  • Computers & Security - Elsevier
  • Computing - Springer Nature
  • Discover Applied Sciences - Springer Nature
  • Discover Artificial Intelligence - Springer Nature
  • Discover Computing - Springer Nature
  • Discover Internet of Things - Springer Nature
  • Discover Networks - Springer Nature
  • Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence - Elsevier
  • International Journal of Cognitive Computing in Engineering - Elsevier
  • International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems - Springer Nature
  • International Journal of Information Security - Springer Nature
  • International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics - Springer Nature
  • International Journal of Networked and Distributed Computing - Springer Nature
  • Internet of Things - Elsevier
  • Journal of Cloud Computing - Springer Nature
  • Journal of Computer Virology and Hacking Techniques - Springer Nature
  • Journal of Information Security and Applications - Elsevier
  • Journal of Network and Systems Management - Springer Nature
  • Journal on Information Security - Springer Nature
  • Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications - Springer Nature
  • Progress in Artificial Intelligence - Springer Nature
  • Scientific Reports - Springer Nature
  • Telecommunication Systems - Springer Nature
  • The Journal of Supercomputing - Springer Nature
  • Wireless Networks - Springer Nature
  • Wireless Personal Communications - Springer Nature

Conference Reviewer

  • XXVI Brazilian Symposium on Cybersecurity (SBSeg 2026)
  • XXV Brazilian Symposium on Cybersecurity (SBSeg 2025)
  • XLIII Brazilian Symposium on Computer Networks and Distributed Systems (SBRC 2025)

Volunteering

[2022 - Present] Chapter Leader - OWASP Foundation

  • As chapter leader, my responsibilities include efficiently maintaining the chapter, organizing engaging information security meetings, and conducting workshops.

[2015 - 2016] Android Developer - Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte

  • Volunteered to develop a mobile app for monitoring water usage at IFRN (campus Natal Central).

CV

Media kit

Biography

Short (~70 words)

Cristian Souza is a Digital Forensics and Incident Response Specialist on Kaspersky's Global Emergency Response Team (GERT). He has a degree in Computer Systems Networking and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of São Paulo (USP). Cristian's primary responsibilities include conducting forensic analysis of critical incidents, identifying their root causes, and performing malware reverse engineering. He also holds several industry certifications, including the GIAC Security Expert (GSE).

Medium (~120 words)

Cristian Souza is a Digital Forensics and Incident Response Specialist on Kaspersky's Global Emergency Response Team (GERT), where he investigates critical incidents, identifies their root causes, and reverse engineers malware. Before Kaspersky, he worked as a penetration tester, cybersecurity consultant, and postgraduate professor. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at the University of São Paulo (USP). His research covers malware analysis and detection, reverse engineering, digital forensics, and binary exploitation, with work published in international journals and conferences. Cristian holds the GIAC Security Expert (GSE) certification, along with CISSP, OSED, OSCP, and GREM. An active contributor to the security community, he leads an OWASP chapter, develops open-source security tools, and reviews for more than 20 international academic journals.

Long (~200 words)

Cristian Souza is a Digital Forensics and Incident Response Specialist on Kaspersky's Global Emergency Response Team (GERT), where he investigates complex incidents, identifies their root causes, and reverse engineers malware. He began studying cybersecurity at the age of 11 and has since worked as a software developer, information security analyst, cybersecurity consultant, and postgraduate professor, with experience spanning penetration testing, red teaming, reverse engineering, and forensic investigations.

Cristian holds a degree in Computer Systems Networking from the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN), where he graduated with honors (summa cum laude), and a master's degree in Management and Technology. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics (IME) of the University of São Paulo (USP). His research on malware analysis, reverse engineering, digital forensics, and binary exploitation has appeared in international journals and conferences, with some earning best paper awards.

An open-source enthusiast, Cristian has contributed to several GitHub projects that help thousands of professionals in their work. He also leads an OWASP chapter and reviews for more than 20 international academic journals. His certifications span cybersecurity, digital forensics, and offensive security, including the GIAC Security Expert (GSE), CISSP, OSED, OSCP, GREM, GCFA, and GXPN.

Photos