About Donald
I’m a Cybersecurity Expert and Associate Professor focused on building resilient, Microsoft-first defenses for cloud and hybrid environments. I help organizations move from ad-hoc security to a 360° posture—governance, operations, and engineering—without slowing the business.
My work blends strategy and hands-on execution: defining policies and roadmaps (ISO 27001, NIST 800-53, NIS2), standing up SOC capabilities and incident response, and hardening the Microsoft stack end-to-end—Defender XDR, Intune, Entra ID (Azure AD), Purview (DLP/Insider Risk), and identity-centric controls (MFA, conditional access, PAM patterns). I enjoy turning messy realities—dormant identities, privilege creep, inconsistent baselines—into measurable improvements and clear executive narratives.
Academically, I hold a PhD in IoT & Wireless Sensor Networks (Fukuoka Institute of Technology, Japan) and was awarded the title of Associate Professor in 2025. I teach, mentor, and research at the intersection of IoT, cybersecurity, and intelligent algorithms—bringing that R&D mindset into day-to-day cyber operations.
Certifications include CompTIA Security+, ISC2 CC, and INE eCIR, with ongoing advancement toward CISSP. Beyond tooling, I invest in people: building junior-to-senior growth paths, practical labs, and crisp playbooks so teams can detect, respond, and recover faster.
Focus areas: XDR • DLP • IAM • Threat Hunting • Incident Response • Secure Configuration & Hardening • Vulnerability & Patch Management • Identity Governance • Policy & Risk Management • Awareness & Enablement
English
Native or bilingual
Japanese
Conversational
Italian
Fluent
Remote only
Primarily works remotely
Experience
- One AlbaniaSenior Information Security SpecialistSeptember 2024 - Today (1 year and 9 months)Tirana, Albania• Leading SOC operations: Manage a 24×7 SOC using Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk and ELK to collect and analyse hundreds of thousands of log events each day. Developed custom KQL queries and analytic rules to improve detection fidelity and reduce false positives.• Endpoint security & EDR: Deployed Microsoft Defender for Endpoint across enterprise endpoints, leveraging behavioural sensors and cloud analytics to prevent and respond to advanced threats. Integrated EDR alerts into Sentinel for unified incident management and automatic remediation.• Incident response: Led end‑to‑end investigation and containment of high‑severity incidents, coordinating with IT and engineering teams to mitigate impacts. Used Sentinel's incident graph and analytics to reconstruct attack timelines and root causes.• Threat hunting & threat intelligence: Conducted proactive hunts using Sentinel's AI‑enhanced analytics and integrated threat‑intelligence feeds; built custom detection rules to identify stealthy attack patterns.• SOAR automation: Designed and executed SOAR playbooks to automate repetitive response actions, reducing manual effort and accelerating containment.• Identity & access management: Managed Entra ID identity security, enforcing least‑privilege access and monitoring for identity‑based threats using Entra IDProtection. Addressed alerts related to anonymous IP usage, password spray attacks and leaked credentials.• Data governance: Implemented Microsoft Purview policies to classify and protect sensitive data, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
- University Metropolitan TiranaDirector of Research and DevelopmentSeptember 2023 - Today (2 years and 9 months)• Directed research initiatives in cybersecurity, IoT and network systems, guiding faculty and students in developing innovative projects and publications. Oversaw creation of new academic programs that emphasise secure system design and information assurance.• Collaborated with industry partners to integrate Microsoft security solutions (Sentinel, Defender and Purview) into research projects and curricula, enhancing students' practical skills.• Mentored research teams on secure coding practices, data protection and compliance frameworks such as ISO 27001 .
- Fukuoka Institute of Technology,Web AdministratorOctober 2015 - October 2018 (3 years)Japan• Managed the university's web infrastructure and servers, ensuring high availability and security. Performed vulnerability assessments, applied security patches and implemented access controls to protect sensitive data.• Provided technical support for web services and users, contributing to continuous improvement of the institution's information security posture.
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Education
- Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect Expert (SC‑100)Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect Expert (SC‑100)
- Microsoft Security Operations Analyst (SC‑200)Microsoft Security Operations Analyst (SC‑200)