Laurence Avent

Information Security Engineer

Apr/2024 - Present | Educational Technology Company | Remote, UK

• Provided security support for GitHub Copilot Enterprise rollout including threat modeling, access control configuration, and security policy development
• Built internal MCP registry hosted on CloudFront enabling controlled use of approved Model Context Protocol servers, reducing attack surface while enabling AI-assisted development
• Conduct security design reviews and embed with product teams to implement secure coding practices
• Build and maintain enterprise security monitoring with Rapid7 InsightIDR, creating custom detection rules
• Coordinate penetration testing engagements and manage vulnerability remediation lifecycle
• Secure CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps with SAST/DAST integration and dependency scanning
• Configure AWS security services including GuardDuty, Security Hub, and Lambda-based automated remediation

Focus: Application Security, AI/LLM Security, CI/CD Security, Threat Modeling, AWS

Security and Compliance Engineer

Nov/2022 - Oct/2023 | Encord (YC 2021) | Remote, UK

• Led application security initiatives including threat modeling for web applications and REST APIs
• Performed security assessments and testing on production applications
• Configured GCP Security Command Center and Cloud Armor WAF rules for OWASP Top 10 protection
• Implemented secure SDLC practices including security requirements, design reviews, and testing
• Collaborated with product teams to improve security of cloud storage integrations (Azure, GCP, AWS) including granular permission models
• Managed inbound vulnerability disclosures, triaging reports from security researchers

Focus: GCP Security, Threat Modeling, Penetration Testing, WAF, Secure SDLC

Support Engineer - Security Focus

Feb/2021 - Nov/2022 | Kobalt Music | London, UK

• Founded Security Incident Response Team and led critical security improvements
• Led emergency incident response to Log4Shell vulnerability, coordinating cross-team remediation under pressure
• Implemented OpsGenie for improved incident response workflows following Log4Shell lessons learned
• Discovered and remediated WAF bypass vulnerability through security testing and code analysis
• Implemented security monitoring with DataDog, creating dashboards for anomaly detection
• Conducted root cause analysis on security incidents and drove preventive measures

Focus: Incident Response, Vulnerability Discovery, OpsGenie, Security Monitoring

Support Engineer - Enterprise InfoSec GRC

Jul/2019 - Jan/2021 | Reciprocity (now ZenGRC) | Ljubljana, Slovenia

• Provided technical support to 250+ enterprise customers on information security GRC tool, ZenGRC (similar to Drata and Vanta)
• Collaborated with Product and Design teams on feature and security enhancements
• Influenced product improvements through customer feedback including import/export, password security, and access controls
• Debugged complex product issues and doggedly chased down fixes
• Created best practices documentation for Support team members and trained colleagues

Focus: REST API Security, SSO/SAML, Product Security, Enterprise Security

Early Career

2011 - 2019 | Various Roles

Developed foundational skills across customer-facing and analytical roles: customer service and call handling, paralegal work requiring attention to detail and compliance awareness, data analysis and data management, and business intelligence reporting. These roles built strong communication skills, analytical thinking, and an understanding of enterprise operations that inform my security work today.