Cyber & Cloud Security · Aspiring Security Architect · Geel, Belgium

Leander
Tops.

Bachelor Electronics–ICT student at Thomas More Geel.
Specialisation in Cyber & Cloud Security.
Internship as Junior Pentester at dotNET lab.
Aspiring Security Architect I don't just find vulnerabilities, I think about how to build systems that don't have them.

3 years of IT education
0 times I've given up
∞ problems worth solving
Scroll to explore

01 — About me

Who I am.

Leander Tops
E-ICT '26

Who I am

I'm Leander Tops, from Geel, Belgium. I started my career as an electrician which taught me something most IT people never learn in a classroom: that systems fail in the real world, and you need to think ten steps ahead to prevent it. That mindset is what drives me in cybersecurity. I'm not just interested in breaking things I want to understand why they break, and design systems that don't. I'm social, direct and genuinely enjoy working with people. I believe that the best security solutions come from teams that communicate well, not just from individuals who code well.

Hobbies

🏋️ Fitness 🔐 CTF challenges 🔧 Electronics tinkering 🚗 Classic cars 🏂 Snowboarding

Why ACS / E-ICT?

I chose E-ICT because I wanted to truly understand how digital systems work not just use them. The Cyber & Cloud Security specialisation clicked immediately. Security isn't just a technical discipline, it's a way of thinking. You have to anticipate how people, processes and systems interact and where they go wrong. That kind of strategic thinking is exactly what drew me in, and what I want to build a career around.

Future dreams & professional ambitions

My goal is to become a Security Architect someone who designs secure systems from the ground up rather than patching them after the fact. I want to sit at the table where the big decisions are made and make sure security is built in from day one, not bolted on at the end. Getting there means building real experience: certifications like OSCP, CEH and eventually CISSP are on the roadmap. I don't believe in "no" as a final answer. Every obstacle is just a problem I haven't solved yet.

CV

02 — Skills

What I know.

Security & Network
Offensive & defensive
Penetration Testing Network Security Linux / Kali Linux OWASP / Web Security Vulnerability Assessment Wireshark Nmap Metasploit
Cloud & Infrastructure
Platforms & tools
Microsoft Azure AWS Docker Kubernetes (K8s) Proxmox OPNsense OpenVPN Windows Server
Development
Languages & frameworks
Python JavaScript Java React Spring Boot Node.js SQL NoSQL Bash / PowerShell Git / GitHub HTML / CSS
Soft Skills
How I work with people
Analytical thinking Problem solving Team player Communication Reporting Perseverance Critical thinking Hands-on mentality

03 — Experience

Where I've worked.

Junior Pentester (Stage)
dotNET lab · Hasselt
Feb 2026 — May 2026

During my internship at dotNET lab I worked as a junior penetration tester. I tested real systems for vulnerabilities, identified attack surfaces and wrote professional security reports for clients. Alongside the offensive work I also contributed to software development giving me a dual perspective: thinking like an attacker and like a developer.

Penetration Testing Vulnerability Assessment Security Reporting OWASP Software Development Git Agile / Scrum
Electrician
Vansant NV · Belgium
2021 — 2023

Before switching to IT I worked as an electrician. That technical foundation working systematically, prioritising safety, understanding complex installations still shapes how I look at systems today.

Electrical installations Technical reading Safety protocols Hands-on

04 — Why Security Architecture

How I think.

🏗️
Build, don't bolt on

Through my studies I've learned that security added after the fact is always a compromise. I want to be someone who thinks about threat models and trust boundaries from the start not as an afterthought.

🔭
Systems thinking

I'm not just interested in individual vulnerabilities I want to understand how components interact, where trust is assumed instead of verified, and how a weakness in one layer can affect the whole.

🤝
Security is a conversation

I'm social and direct. I genuinely enjoy working with people and believe the best solutions come from teams that communicate well — not just from individuals who code well.

⚡
Attacker's perspective

My internship as a junior pentester gave me a first taste of thinking like an attacker. That perspective is something I want to carry forward understanding how things break helps me think about how to build them better.

📐
Principle of least privilege

One of the first concepts I truly understood and it stuck. Every user and service should have exactly the access it needs nothing more. Simple in theory, powerful in practice.

🔁
No is not a final answer

I started as an electrician, switched careers, built projects from scratch and completed a pentesting internship. Every time something was hard, I kept going. That's not changing.

05 — Projects & Achievements

What I've built.

Click a project to see the details.

🌱
AgriTech
Bachelor E-ICT · SKIL2 Semester 1 · 2025
Completed
Click for details →
🖥️
Self-hosted Cloud Platform
Bachelor E-ICT · SKIL2 Semester 2 · 2026
In progress
Click for details →
🍯
toppos-honeypot
Personal Project · Node.js · 2026
Completed
Click for details →
🛡️
cve-checker
Personal Project · Node.js · 2026
Completed
Click for details →

06 — Education

How I've grown.

2023 — 2026
Bachelor Electronics – ICT
Thomas More University of Applied Sciences · Geel

Specialisation: Cyber & Cloud Security. Graduation internship at dotNET lab as Junior Pentester.

2023 — 2025
Graduate Programming
Thomas More University of Applied Sciences · Antwerp

JavaScript, Java, React, Spring Boot, SQL, NoSQL, OOP fundamentals.

2016 — 2022
BSO Household & Industrial Installations + 7th year
Atheneum GO · Geel

Secondary education specialising in electrical and industrial installations. Completed 7th specialisation year. Included practical internship periods at Vansant NV during 6th and 7th year.

07 — Contact

Let's talk.

Interested in talking security architecture, collaborating on a project, or just having a conversation about how systems should be built? I'm always up for it. I don't do small talk for the sake of it but if there's a real problem to solve, I'm in.

Email tops.leander03@gmail.com
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/leander-tops
GitHub github.com/toppos2
toppos@parrot:~$ whoami
leander_tops — aspiring security architect & e-ict student

toppos@parrot:~$ cat ambitions.txt
→ Security Architect
→ OSCP → CEH → CISSP
→ Build systems that don't need patching

toppos@parrot:~$ ping leander
PING leander ...