About Me
Years Experience
Leading and implementing strategic cybersecurity intiatives
Engineers Impacted
Through bank-wide control implementation unlocking engineering velocity with secure outcomes
Largest Australian Company and Fortune 500
Large-scale Risk Reduction in Critical Infrastructure
Cloud-certified security professional with 5+ years of experience leading end-to-end cybersecurity engineering across AWS and Azure in large-scale financial environments.
I architect and drive delivery of scalable cyber assurance platforms and AI-powered data security lakes that automate control validation to achieve alignment with NIST, CIS, APRA, and E8 frameworks.
Proven leader of cross-functional teams, translating complex security requirements into automated DevSecOps pipelines, detection and response workflows, and embedded cloud-native controls. Deep hands-on expertise across both the Azure security stack (Defender, Purview, Entra and Sentinel) and AWS security services (Security Hub, IAM, GuardDuty, and Control Tower).
Rising industry leader in cybersecurity with an academic/educator background, speaker at CISO summits, and advocate for accessible cyber resiliency. Self-funded professional development and pursuing IRAP Assessor endorsement via CISSP and CISA.
Building a secure and inclusive digital future by mentoring future cyber professionals from disadvantaged areas through programs like Lucy Mentoring, STEAM education initiatives, and UNSW SecEdu—providing industry clarity to students transitioning into cybersecurity careers.
The Coffisseur Philosophy
"Great coffee, like great security architecture, requires attention to detail, quality ingredients, and the right process. Both bring people together and create moments of clarity."
Whether I'm securing cloud infrastructure or brewing the perfect espresso, I believe in precision, passion, and continuous improvement.
The Coffisseur
Beyond cloud security, I'm passionate about coffee culture and the art of brewing the perfect cup. Just as I architect secure systems, I appreciate the precision and craftsmanship that goes into exceptional coffee.
Passionate about specialty coffee, from bean to cup
Building connections through shared coffee experiences
Bringing teams together over quality coffee conversations
Same attention to detail in coffee as in cybersecurity
Coffee Philosophy
"Great coffee, like great security architecture, requires attention to detail, quality ingredients, and the right process. Both bring people together and create moments of clarity."
Whether I'm securing cloud infrastructure or brewing the perfect espresso, I believe in precision, passion, and continuous improvement.
☕ Fueling Innovation, One Cup at a Time
Experience
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
- •Acted in place of the Chief Product Security Engineer, leading a team of 5 to deliver a central Cyber Security Control Intelligence API used by 3,000+ engineers across 150+ cloud teams
- •Reduced time-to-compliance by 60% via reusable APIs integrated into CI/CD pipelines
- •Standardized secure cloud deployments across the enterprise by pioneering hardened CDK pipelines
- •Designed and delivered a serverless governance layer for the central proxy
- •Served as a Cloud Security SME for Security Architects, SOCs and incident response teams
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
- •Performed critical security assessments for architectural changes and major releases for SailPoint IAM and CyberArk PAM
- •Supervised and trained Senior Cyber Analyst through one-on-one induction sessions
- •Lead mentorship initiatives and talks surrounding career development
Elitvate
- •Architected a scalable HyperConverged private cloud infrastructure for deployment inside an enterprise datacenter
- •Configured ELK Stack as the central SIEM and OPNSense Router with IDS/IPS
- •Implemented a CICD pipeline using GitHub, HashiStack & Ansible
GSRE Australia
- •Elevated the organisation to Essential Eight Maturity level 1 by introducing a Cyber Strategy through the PPT Framework
- •Led the migration to MS E5 licences to consolidate technical and security capabilities
- •Integrated cloud native security tooling such as Azure AD/Intune, Defender for Cloud, Defender for Endpoint, DLP
Skills & Certifications
Microsoft Azure Solution Architect Expert
15/02/2023
Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
27/12/2022
Microsoft Azure Administrator Associates
13/03/2022
AWS Security Specialist
22/02/2025
ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
01/03/2025
AWS Solution Architect Associate
22/02/2025
CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional)
Q2 2025
CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor)
Q3 2025
OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional)
Q4 2025
Industry Impact & Innovation
Presented at Clutch Events' Cloud Security Summits, sharing stages with global CISOs on DevSecOps, Cloud GRC, and AI-driven security hygiene.
Founded an AI-powered platform empowering individuals and SMBs to implement practical, affordable cybersecurity hygiene through tailored guidance and resource connections.
Developed a novel iOS Shortcut-based QR scanner leveraging a unique backend powered by a proposed whitelisting and signature-based standard.
Authored and submitted a 2022 cybersecurity conference paper on Evil Twin attack emulation. Engineered a low-memory Linux SBC rogue access point.
Active mentor with Lucy Mentoring, STEAM, and SecEdu, promoting cyber maturity and diversity in technology.
Let's Connect Over Coffee
Ready to discuss cloud security, architecture, or share a great coffee recommendation?
Whether it's cybersecurity collaboration or coffee conversations, I'd love to connect!
applicant@kennyzhong.com
Phone
+61 482 026 263
Location
Sydney, NSW Australia
Coffee Status
Always brewing something great!
"Great conversations, like great coffee, are best shared. Let's brew something amazing together!"