Curriculum Vitae

Arya Pokharel

Professional & Academic Experience

Application Security / Red Team Researcher

Nov 2022 - Present

Softwarica College of IT & E-Commerce / Coventry University

  • ·Deliver undergraduate lectures and practical laboratories in Application Security, Secure Software Engineering, Ethical Hacking, and Cybersecurity.
  • ·Designed and developed intentionally vulnerable applications in MERN and LAMP stack to teach SSJI, Insecure Deserialization, Request Smuggling, and OWASP Top 10 exploits.
  • ·Built and maintained containerised lab environments (Docker, Ludus) enabling students to practice red teaming and penetration testing in isolated settings.
  • ·Developed CTF-style assessment platforms distributed as hardened VirtualBox/UTM OVA images for black-box student evaluation.
  • ·Mentored students through structured assessments, report writing, and vulnerability documentation.

Penetration Tester (Contractor)

Jan 2025 - Present

Private Engagements

  • ·Conduct web and mobile penetration tests for enterprise clients; identified and exploited critical vulnerabilities including SQLi, SSRF, Prototype Pollution, and RCE.
  • ·Deliver validated Proof-of-Concept exploits with documented business impact.
  • ·Manage full engagement lifecycle under NDA: scoping, manual exploitation, report writing, and debrief with development teams.
  • ·Drive critical remediation directly through structured reporting and technical debriefs.

Penetration Tester (Intern)

Aug 2022 - Nov 2022

Bugv

  • ·Validated vulnerabilities across web applications and authored exploitation documentation for client-facing security reports.

Certifications