AARON VAN DEN BERG

Penetration Tester
+27 63 841 7705 South Africa · Remote/On-site

From an early age, I was driven by curiosity pulling systems apart just to see what made them tick. That same curiosity now drives my work as a penetration tester, where I focus on uncovering weaknesses before adversaries do. I approach every engagement with a mix of precision and creativity, simulating real-world attacks to assess the true security posture of networks, applications, and infrastructure. My goal is simple: expose the flaws, demonstrate the risk, and help organisations understand their vulnerabilities.

Professional Experience
Penetration Tester @ Cyber Office Sep 2025 – Present

Full-scope penetration testing across internal, external, web app, and cloud environments.

Lead engagements from reconnaissance through exploitation, validation, and final reporting.

Deliver clear, risk-driven findings; guide remediation and perform retesting with technical teams.

Security Solutions Specialist @ NebulaNet Solutions Feb 2025 – Aug 2025

Deployed and maintained large-scale enterprise Fortinet infrastructure.

Built custom honeypots → 90% drop in client brute-force attacks.

Integrated FortiEMS for endpoint visibility; analytics & executive reporting via FortiAnalyzer.

Actionable recommendations that reduced attack surface and improved security posture.

Penetration Tester @ Quantum Realm Engineering Jun 2024 – Jan 2025

WordPress security assessments: recon, vuln analysis, OWASP Top 10, hardening.

Built custom tooling to automate scanning, enumeration, and reporting workflows.

Supported senior testers with environment setup and client-ready findings.

Technical Arsenal & Skills
Full‑scope assessments · Active Directory attack paths · Privilege escalation · Phishing simulations
Burp SuiteNmapOpenVAS MetasploitImpacketBloodHound NXCRespondermitm6 ntlmrelayxWiresharkKali Linux Windows AD toolingHydraGobuster ffufFirewallingVPN testing Protocol analysisCloud identity assessmentsLog analysis Linux/Windows adminHybrid-cloud posture reviews
Certifications & Education
Fortinet NSE 1 – 6
TCM Security PNPT
CompTIA A+
Hack The Box CPTS ongoing
OffSec OSCP+ ongoing
Eduvos University Bachelor's Degree in Network Engineering & Security
Certificate in Software Engineering
Community & Speaking
Tooling for Teamers · Custom Pineapples TOR OSINT & TOR Introduction TOR Deep OSINT
Volunteer @ BSides JHB 2025 · Regular speaker @ OxCoffee CPT

Core approach: adversary emulation · purple team mindset · clear reporting Active in local infosec community