Alex Bourla
Hands-on Cybersecurity Expert
Helping teams defend and design secure, modern systems
About
I help ambitious teams turn security into a strength, not a bottleneck. Whether you need strategic guidance or hands-on execution, I bring the experience to harden systems, reduce risk, and move fast without breaking things.
My background spans cloud-native security, secure design, and offensive security, from threat modelling and modern control implementation to red teaming and secure build pipelines.
Working with organisations of all sizes, from fintechs to critical infrastructure providers, I bring a builder’s mindset to security, with a focus on real-world impact, risk-based thinking, and cost-effective solutions that actually make a difference.
Services
Security Engineering
Building security into your systems from the ground up with modern security controls and best practices
Threat Modeling
Systematic analysis of potential threats and vulnerabilities in your architecture and applications
Security Automation & DevSecOps
Automating security controls and CI/CD workflows to help your teams ship fast and stay secure
Adversary Simulation
Simulating real-world attacks to assess your detection, response, and resilience. Includes red teaming, assumed breach exercises, and targeted penetration testing
Research & Development
Vulnerability discovery, security tool development, and cutting-edge security research for emerging threats
vCISO Services
Virtual Chief Information Security Officer services providing strategic security leadership, governance, and risk management
Training
Secure design and secure development training courses to build security expertise within your teams.
Security Architecture & Design Reviews
Independent reviews of your system architecture and security design decisions, helping identify risks early and ensure they are addressed by design
Security Mentoring & Coaching
Guiding engineers, architects, and leaders on secure design practices and threat-informed thinking, tailored to your stack and risk profile
Research & Publications
Recent Research
Palo Alto Networks Global Protect VPN Client
Research of Palo Alto Networks' GlobalProtect VPN client on macOS and Linux systems. This work uncovered multiple vulnerabilities in GlobalProtect’s client-side architecture, including privilege escalation flaws and VPN bypass techniques.
Disclosures include CVE-2025-0135, CVE-2025-0140, CVE-2025-0141, and CVE-2025-2179. Full technical whitepaper coming soon.
Talks & Publications
Black Hat USA 2025
August 2025 Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
Turning the Tables on GlobalProtect: Use and Abuse of Palo Alto's Remote Access Solution
- Read abstact
- Slides, whitepaper and recordings to follow