April Walker

Cybersecurity Analyst | Defensive Security

Protecting systems, people, and data with practical security operations.

Current focus Detection engineering for suspicious authentication activity

April Walker is building a cybersecurity portfolio focused on detection engineering, incident response, and risk reduction through clear process and measurable outcomes.

Alert Triage 08m avg initial review
Coverage 05 log source categories
Workflow NIST response-aligned process
View Projects View Credentials

About

Defensive security analyst focused on practical risk reduction

April Walker is a cybersecurity professional with a B.S. in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance from Western Governors University and multiple CompTIA certifications, including CySA+ and Security+. Her work is centered on incident response, threat triage, monitoring, and strengthening security operations through clear analysis and measurable improvements.

Core Capabilities

  • Incident Response
  • SIEM Monitoring
  • Threat Detection
  • Log Analysis
  • Vulnerability Management
  • Security Documentation
  • MFA / Identity Controls
  • Risk Assessment

Credentials

Certifications, education, and training

CompTIA-certified cybersecurity professional

Certifications

  • CompTIA CySA+
  • CompTIA Security+
  • CompTIA Network+
  • CompTIA A+
  • CompTIA Project+
  • CompTIA IT Operations Specialist
  • CompTIA Secure Infrastructure Specialist
  • Currently pursuing CompTIA PenTest+

Education

  • B.S. in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance, Western Governors University
  • Coursework spanning networking, forensics, secure systems, and defensive operations
  • Academic and hands-on work aligned to SOC, incident response, and security analysis

Tools & Platforms

  • Splunk / Microsoft Sentinel
  • Wireshark, Nmap, Nessus
  • Windows / Linux administration
  • Python / Bash for automation support

Experience Narrative

How April approaches incident handling and security improvement

Detect

  • Monitor SIEM alerts and anomalous login patterns
  • Validate signal quality and identify false positives
  • Prioritize by business impact and severity

Analyze

  • Correlate logs across identity, endpoint, and network sources
  • Review indicators of compromise and attack chain progression
  • Document scope and likely root cause

Respond

  • Contain affected accounts or hosts
  • Coordinate remediation steps and validation checks
  • Track evidence and action timeline for reporting

Improve

  • Recommend control hardening (MFA, policies, detections)
  • Update runbooks and response playbooks
  • Measure outcomes and close gaps

Security operations signal flow

01

Telemetry Intake

Identity, endpoint, firewall, and cloud logs are normalized to support triage.

02

Alert Validation

Events are correlated and classified to remove false positives and prioritize scope.

03

Containment Actions

Accounts, hosts, or network paths are isolated with documented response decisions.

04

Hardening Feedback Loop

Lessons learned become improved detections, stronger controls, and cleaner runbooks.

Project Highlights

Security dashboards and case studies

Explore cybersecurity case studies covering security dashboards, incident response workflows, threat analysis, and vulnerability remediation with a focus on clear process and measurable outcomes.

Open Projects Page