Gina Horch

I'm a cyber security analyst based in Perth, looking for SOC Analyst and Security Analyst roles. I was most recently responsible for identity, endpoint and vulnerability management at an SMSF financial services business, working in Microsoft Entra ID, Intune and Defender for Business across a mixed Windows fleet. That covered device compliance, encryption, hardening, MFA and vulnerability remediation, and tracing device and driver failures back to a root cause using diagnostic logs. I also planned and delivered two company-wide platform migrations, Microsoft 365 and then Google Workspace, while keeping email, identities, devices and automations running.

To build deeper security operations skills, I completed the TryHackMe SOC Level 1 path and earned Blue Team Level 1 from Security Blue Team, which ends with a 24-hour practical incident response exam. That training covered alert triage and log investigation in Splunk and Elastic, phishing analysis, disk and memory forensics, and incident handling using the PICERL model. It was lab and exam work rather than live incidents, and I try to be clear about that difference. I also completed a Diploma of Information Technology specialising in cyber security and business analysis in August 2026, and I'm now enrolled in the School of SOC to learn hands-on SOC skills and practice incident response.

I see governance, risk and compliance as the foundation under technical security work: controls and detections only matter when they're tied to what a business needs to protect and the obligations it has to meet. It's also the area where I still have the most to learn. I'm currently studying ASD's new Essentials series, which is evolving the Essential Eight, alongside the Information Security Manual and MITRE ATT&CK, and I expect that to be ongoing.

I came to technology along an unusual path: twenty-two years in law enforcement leading complex investigations, then research with the Australian Centre for Child Protection, then technology. Digital forensics is where I first saw how much technical work sits underneath a good answer, and research is where I saw how many processes could be improved by building something better. That background is why I approach problems the way I do — establish what is actually true before acting, look for the evidence rather than the assumption, document what I found, and think carefully about the people whose data I am handling.

I also build software in Python, TypeScript, React and Supabase, including websites and applications that real people use. That helps me read code, understand how applications fail, and pick up SOC tooling and automation more quickly. I use AI-assisted tools such as Claude Code and Cursor with planning, review and testing, I stay responsible for the decisions and the finished work, and I don't put confidential or client data into them.

I work collaboratively and iteratively: short feedback loops, transparency about what is and isn't done, and reviewing outcomes together. I'm based on Whadjuk Noongar boodja in Perth, Western Australia, and I'm always glad to connect with the cyber security community.