Jason Wacker — Resume

Jason Wacker

Senior IT Systems Administrator & Cybersecurity Professional
⬇ Download PDF
Senior IT and cybersecurity professional with 12+ years of experience designing and securing enterprise infrastructure across nonprofit, education, and retail environments. Deep expertise in Microsoft 365, Azure, endpoint management (Intune/Autopilot), NIST SP 800-53 controls auditing, and risk management. Active practitioner maintaining a public cybersecurity platform at cybergrind.org — featuring a self-hosted threat intelligence pipeline, AI agent security framework, and MISP integration. CISSP candidate. Member of IEEE and SimplyCyber.
Cross-Platform Administration
  • Windows Server, macOS, Linux
  • Active Directory, Group Policy
  • Hyper-V, Proxmox
  • WSUS, Autopatch
Containerization & Services
  • Docker, Docker Compose
  • Cloudflare (Pages, Workers, Tunnels)
  • GitHub Actions CI/CD
  • FastAPI, SQLite
Cloud & Identity
  • Microsoft 365, Azure AD
  • Intune, Autopilot
  • Apple Business Manager
  • Mosyle MDM
Security & GRC
  • NIST CSF, SP 800-53, SP 800-30
  • SOC 2, ISO 27001 alignment
  • Threat Modeling, Risk Assessments
  • Policy Authoring, DR Planning
Automation & Dev
  • PowerShell, Python, Bash
  • Power Automate
  • Hugo (Static Sites)
  • Git, GitHub
AI Tooling
  • Ollama (local LLM infrastructure)
  • AI agent frameworks
  • MISP threat intel integration
  • AI governance frameworks
Senior IT Manager of Infrastructure & Cybersecurity
July 2021 – Present
PAWS Chicago — Chicago, IL
  • Lead IT infrastructure and cybersecurity for a 250+ staff, 350+ managed device organization serving 700+ volunteers across multiple facilities.
  • Architected and manage Azure cloud infrastructure and endpoint compliance via Microsoft Intune and Autopilot, including full Android Enterprise fleet deployment.
  • Conducted NIST SP 800-53 controls audit — interviews, document review, and system testing — producing formal findings and remediation roadmap.
  • Semi-quantitatively analyzed cybersecurity risk using NIST SP 800-30 methodology; authored risk register and executive briefings.
  • Executed threat modeling exercises to identify higher-likelihood threat events and inform risk scoring.
  • Developed Information Security policy aligned to SOC 2 Trust Service Criteria and NIST CSF.
  • Designed and executed Business Continuity Plans and disaster recovery strategies with documented runbooks.
  • Managed IT budgeting and procurement; achieved 10% reduction in operational costs through vendor consolidation.
  • Created targeted security awareness content reducing phishing susceptibility and improving end-user cyber hygiene.
  • Mentored junior IT staff and coordinated cross-departmental technology initiatives.
Advanced Repair Agent
February 2013 – Present
Best Buy Geek Squad — Arlington Heights, IL
  • Diagnose and resolve hardware/software issues for Windows and macOS systems; maintain 95%+ customer satisfaction rating.
  • Conduct end-user training sessions improving technical proficiency and operational efficiency.
  • Developed streamlined repair workflows reducing average repair time by 15%.
  • Advise on IT security best practices and assist customers with endpoint protection configuration.
Systems Technician
May 2013 – July 2021
Lyons Township High School — La Grange, IL
  • Maintained LAN/WAN environment supporting 5,000+ endpoints at 95%+ uptime across dual campuses.
  • Managed device inventory and lifecycle replacement schedules for seamless hardware upgrades.
  • Authored network documentation and self-service guides, reducing helpdesk tickets by 20%.
  • Created and deployed Windows 10 workstation images district-wide with full driver and application integration.
  • Patched security vulnerabilities and deployed updates using WSUS across all Windows workstations.
Personal cybersecurity platform built with Hugo and deployed via GitHub Actions CI/CD to Cloudflare Pages. Features a self-hosted FastAPI threat intelligence pipeline with MISP, CISA KEV, URLhaus, and MalwareBazaar collectors; a live global threat map; a multi-agent AI security pipeline using Ollama; and an educational content library covering NIST CSF, AI governance frameworks, and blue team techniques. Includes seven Cloudflare Workers integrating EPSS, NVD, AbuseIPDB, and OSINT feeds.
HugoPython / FastAPIDockerCloudflare WorkersMISPOllamaD3.jsOSINTThreat Intel
Self-Hosted AI Security Stack
Built and operate a fully self-hosted AI infrastructure stack including a 5-agent sequential security pipeline (Planner → Researcher → Risk Analyst → Mitigation → Writer), live MISP IOC injection into agent context, Slack bot integration, and a local LLM stack via Ollama. Accessible via Tailscale zero-trust networking. All compute runs on-premises with no cloud AI dependency.
OllamaDocker ComposeTailscaleFastAPISlack APIMISPPython
Homelab SOC Environment
Hands-on security research lab for skill development and tooling evaluation.
  • Proxmox virtualization (Ubuntu + Windows Server VMs)
  • Wazuh SIEM — log aggregation & endpoint monitoring
  • MISP — threat intelligence platform with live feeds
  • Local Active Directory structure
  • Windows-based SAN
  • Mailcow self-hosted email server
  • CachyOS (Arch-based Linux) primary OS
  • Plex & Jellyfin media servers
CISSP In Progress
CompTIA Security+ In Progress
CompTIA Network+ Current
CompTIA A+ Current
TryHackMe — Cyber Security 101 January 2026
Implementing the NIST Risk Management Framework 2024
IT & Cybersecurity Risk Management Essential Training 2024
SOC 2 Compliance Essential Training 2024
Threat Modeling: DoS & Expansion of Authority 2024
Threat Modeling: Tampering in Depth 2024
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Fundamentals 2024
Mitigating Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities 2024
Complete Guide to IAM for Network Engineers 2024
Microsoft 365: Administration 2024
B.S. in Information Technology — Cybersecurity Concentration
Strayer University
2025 – Expected Sept. 2027
Prior undergraduate studies in Information Technology & Networking
University of Phoenix & DeVry University
Coursework completed; degrees not conferred
2005 – 2012
Dog Walker
PAWS Chicago
September 2016 – Present