About

About

I’m Fahad Yousuf, an IT Nerd and Cybersecurity Consultant.

This blog is where I write about networking, security, and random tech experiments.

Background

I’m a cybersecurity professional and enthusiast with considerable experience in large enterprise, telecommunications, and mission-critical IT/OT infrastructures. Over the years, I’ve worked across multiple domains—from hands-on network engineering and systems administration to high-level security architecture and enterprise consulting.

Experience

Palo Alto Networks — Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — 8 years 11 months

• Sr. Principal Professional Services Consultant - EMEA (Nov 2025 – Present)
• Principal Professional Services Consultant - EMEA (Nov 2022 – Oct 2025)
• Professional Services Manager (Sep 2021 – Nov 2022)
• Sr. Professional Services Consultant (Nov 2019 – Aug 2021)
  Delivering high-quality services for the world’s leading cybersecurity company.
• Professional Services Consultant (Jun 2017 – Oct 2019)

Saudi Telecom Company — Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

• IT Security Architect (Aug 2015 – Jun 2017)
  Senior IT Security Design advisor. Responsibilities included IT security requirements analysis and solution design for major/minor projects across multiple business units, including business-critical and high-value projects (10M+ SAR). I ensured IT security policy enforcement by enabling and mandating security controls during the design phase, specifying technologies and solutions to apply controls and monitor their efficacy. I designed, reviewed, and approved HLDs and LLDs for multiple IT security solutions, developed RFCs for operational change requests, and acted as Level-3 technical support for ongoing issues in critical IT applications and network connectivity.

  Technologies covered included: Firewalls (L4 and NGFWs, multi-vendor), IPS devices, Application Firewalls/Security Solutions, Device/File and Network Encryption Solutions, SIEM Tools (ArcSight), Site-to-Site and SSL VPNs, and Wireless Security / BYOD strategy development.

National Guard Health Affairs — Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — 4 years 7 months

• Network Security Team Lead (May 2014 – Jun 2015)
  Led the security section of the Data Center Networks and Security team, managing daily administrative and technical operations of security components of CNDC projects. This included oversight of network security, network access control, security auditing and reporting, enterprise-wide risk analysis for new and existing projects, and implementing site-to-site VPN connectivity with medical equipment vendors. I also reviewed and updated enterprise IT security policies at the organizational and departmental levels, and provided consultancy and feedback to technical support teams (server, application, storage, and virtualization) for security aspects in their projects.

• Computer Engineer - Network Security Team (Dec 2010 – Apr 2014)
  Network Security specialist at King Abdul Aziz Medical City Riyadh, Corporate Network Data Center, ISID Department. Areas of focus included:

  • Network Security components (Firewalls, VPNs, etc.)
  • Cisco Network Access Control (NAC) — Management of CAS/CAM Servers
  • Symantec Endpoint Protection — Cluster of 3 Management Servers with ~7,000 clients
  • Management of BlueCoat ProxySG proxy servers
  • Symantec Messaging Gateway (e-mail security)
  • Network infrastructure maintenance (Cisco-based multi-tier network, VSS at distribution layer)
  • SSL/VPN troubleshooting for Juniper-based devices

e-Business (Pvt) Ltd

• Systems Engineer (May 2009 – May 2010)
  Systems Engineer responsible for management of production Web, Database (MySQL), and NoSQL datastores (Cassandra) servers on Sun Enterprise Server hardware running Ubuntu Server and Sun Solaris. Responsible for uptime and network quality for production websites with up to 100,000 unique monthly users.

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering and Technology

• Computer Engineer (Jun 2008 – Jan 2009)
  Assisted lecturers in delivering courses including Object Oriented Programming, Data Structures, Operating Systems, and Computer Communication and Networks. Instructed students for lab courses: Introduction to Programming (CS101 Lab) and Introduction to Programming II — Intermediate (CS102 Lab).

Bytesense — Lahore, Pakistan

• Internee (2007 – 2008)
  Information Technology startup company providing local support for Warid’s P2P balance transfer system.

Education

• University of Liverpool — PGDip, Computer and Information Security (2013 – 2016)
• Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology — B.S. Engineering, Electronics Engineering (2003 – 2008)
• Government College University (GCU), Lahore — Higher Secondary School Certificate, Science (Pre-Engineering) (2001 – 2003)

Skills

Cloud Computing, GCP - Cloud Digital Leader, Cloud Applications, VMware vSphere, VMware vCenter, VMware NSX, Proxmox VE, Kubernetes, Certified Kubernetes Administrator, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Amazon EKS, Network Security, Firewalls, Python, Network Administration, VPN, Troubleshooting, Linux System Administration, Network Design, Data Center, Programming, Routing, System Deployment, OSPF, XDR, SOAR Use Cases, Requirements Analysis, Cybersecurity, Cisco Technologies, Linux, Operating Systems, Servers, Juniper Networks, Cisco Systems Products, Django, Cisco, VMware Infrastructure, Networking, Endpoint Protection, SIEM, Splunk, VyOS, Cloud Security, Network Virtualization, Security Architecture Design, IT Consulting, Network Access Control (NAC)

Languages

• English
• Urdu