Hi, I am Qudtratulla.
I work with cybersecurity in the public sector.

My interest in cybersecurity started early. When I was about eleven years old, I was hacked for the first time while playing Counter-Strike: Source. Instead of just ruining the game, the people behind it explained what they had done and helped me remove it over Ventrilo, one of the old voice chat tools.

That moment changed how I looked at computers. It was not only about playing a game anymore. It was about understanding what actually happens underneath the surface when something “just works” or when something breaks.

The first code I learned was simple Lua scripts and configuration files in Counter-Strike: Source. I used them to automate actions and to test small tricks in the game. That experience taught me that a few lines of code can have a big effect on how a system behaves.

At school I became “the IT person” and the one people associated with hacking and computers. That reputation followed me, but it also motivated me to keep learning and to find a responsible way to use the skills I was building.

Together with a close friend, I asked the people who had helped me if they could teach us more. They introduced us to basic offensive and defensive techniques in controlled environments, for example how to run and test simple network scripts from a virtual private server.

From there everything moved quickly. We set up an IRC channel on mIRC, joined security-related forums, and spent many hours learning from different profiles, from ethical hackers to more aggressive actors. Over time we built our own ethical framework and decided what we would and would not do.

That mix of early experimentation, guidance from more experienced people, and respect for the impact of technology is what shaped my way of thinking. It still defines how I approach security work today: curious, realistic, and aware that behind every system there are people who depend on it.

Today I work as an cybesecurity specialist in the public sector. My daily work includes defence, secure architecture, and support for compliance and governance efforts.

I still use the offensive mindset I developed when I was younger, but now it is directed towards helping others stay secure and towards building systems that are harder to misuse.