Hrishi Deshmukh

About Me

Cybersecurity

Working to protect systems and people by gaining hands-on experience in threat hunting, incident response, and security operations.

Cloud Software Engineering

Building scalable, resilient software in the cloud with clean code, automation, and infrastructure as code.

Making a Positive Impact

Trying to make life better for others through volunteering, advocacy, and everyday choices that prioritize people and community.

Leading & Learning

Growing through curiosity and leadership by taking initiative, mentoring others, and staying open to new ideas, people, and challenges.

Select Achievements

First author and lead of Threat Hunting Russian APTs in U.S. Critical Infrastructure with CrowdStrike and Duke University; presented at the 2025 Duke Cyber Conference and 2026 NC Cybersecurity Symposium
Remediated 155+ critical CVEs flagged by CISA and NVD at Oracle
Led 6 engineers over 17 months to deliver a public-facing software project ahead of schedule at Oracle
Rebuilt healthcare customer identification systems, leading to a ~$3.7 million annual positive impact at GoHealth
Selected as Alumni Panelist for Oracle's Global Tech Program to mentor and inspire new North American engineers
Earned Outstanding Presentation Award — 1 of 22 winners out of 501 researchers — at the 2021 UIUC URAP Symposium; presented Killing to Win: Pre-Election Violence as a Political Strategy to Win Elections

Professional Experience

Oracle

Cloud Software Engineer

Feb 2023 — Present

Cybersecurity

Removed critical JDWP and JMX vulnerabilities, securing all 20+ cloud services from exploits
Red-teamed Oracle's internal LLMs to uncover vulnerabilities and strengthen AI security controls
Remediated 155+ CVEs flagged by CISA and NVD
Deployed cloud network security infrastructure for Digital Government clients, configuring WAF, Cloud Guard, Bastion, and API gateways using Terraform
Defined and enforced least-privilege IAM policies for Zero Trust architecture

Software Engineering & DevOps

Reduced cloud infrastructure costs by 66% by revamping apps to share Elasticsearch clusters
Coded and maintained cloud-native Java microservices with Kubernetes and Docker
Pioneered microservices upgrade to Micronaut 4 and Java 21, achieving 30% faster builds

Leadership

Led 6 engineers over 17 months to deliver a public-facing software project ahead of schedule
Coordinated with teams, clients, and executives across the U.S., Ukraine, Canada, Mexico, India, Morocco, and Australia
Mentored engineers and interns in leadership and secure software development
Selected as Alumni Panelist for Oracle's Global Tech Program to mentor and inspire new North American engineers

Research

Duke University & CrowdStrike

Graduate Research Assistant

Apr 2025 — Apr 2026

First author and lead of Threat Hunting Russian APTs in U.S. Critical Infrastructure, in partnership with CrowdStrike under Dr. Roman
Presented findings at the 2025 Duke Cyber Conference and 2026 NC Cybersecurity Symposium
Interviewed CrowdStrike's SVP of Adversary Operations and senior industry executives to inform threat intelligence analysis
Produced threat intelligence report mapping nation-state TTPs to MITRE ATT&CK and translating findings into actionable cyber defense recommendations
Directed full research lifecycle: adversary analysis, data synthesis, OSINT, team coordination, and executive interviews

UIUC Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program

Research Assistant

Jan 2021 — May 2021

Earned Outstanding Presentation Award — 1 of 22 winners out of 501 researchers — at the URAP Symposium
Presented Killing to Win: Pre-Election Violence as a Political Strategy to Win Elections
Assisted PhD research performing data analysis and visualization of pre-election violence and voter suppression

Education

Duke University

Master of Engineering, Cybersecurity

Expected Dec 2027 · CAE in Cyber Defense — NSA Validated

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science

Specialization: AI & Big Data · CAE in Cyber Defense — NSA Validated

Media & Recognition

Press

‘Hunting Hidden Bears: Duke Cybersecurity Master’s Students and CrowdStrike Researched Russian Cyber Threats to U.S. Infrastructure’

Duke University Pratt School of Engineering

January 7, 2026

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Press

‘Finding Purpose in Cybersecurity: Hrishikesh Deshmukh’s Journey’

Duke University Pratt School of Engineering

September 30, 2025

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Award

Outstanding Presentation Award — 2021 URAP Research Symposium

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

May 10, 2021

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Get in Touch

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