Hamid Akhtar
Network & Security Lead | Palo Alto, F5, AWS | Routing, Switching, Firewalls | Enterprise Infrastructure
- Role
- Network and Security Lead at Larsen & Toubro
- Location
- New Delhi, DL, IN
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Hamid Akhtar
PCNSE and CCNP-certified Senior Network Security Engineer with 12+ years of IT experience and 8+ years focused on enterprise firewall and network security, including Tier-2/Tier-3 Palo Alto Networks TAC exposure. I specialise in designing, operating, and troubleshooting high-availability security infrastructures in demanding enterprise environments.Expert in Palo Alto NGFW (PAN-OS), Panorama, GlobalProtect, Prisma Access, and advanced threat prevention across PA-200 to PA-7K platforms and VM-Series on VMware and Azure. Proven track record handling critical escalations, complex L3–L7 traffic issues, and delivering greenfield deployments and large-scale firewall migrations with minimal risk.Strong networking foundation as a CCNP-certified engineer, with hands-on expertise in OSPF, BGP, VLANs, and enterprise routing & switching across Cisco, HP, and Dell platforms. I bring a hands-on, ownership-driven approach, thrive in fast-paced environments, and am now targeting senior / lead network security roles in the UK where deep engineering capability and real operational impact are valued.I thrive in roles that demand deep troubleshooting, architectural thinking, and end-to-end ownership of network security.
Experience
Network and Security Lead
Jun 2023 — Present · Delhi, IN
Lead enterprise-scale network security operations supporting multi-site, high-availability environments, improving overall security posture and operational resilience.Designed and operated Palo Alto NGFW HA clusters (PA-3410/3430, PA-1410, PA-850), implementing App-ID, User-ID, NAT, SSL decryption, and Panorama-based centralized policy management—reducing policy misconfigurations and incidents by ~30%.Engineered and tuned advanced Security Profiles (IPS, AV, Anti-Spyware, URL Filtering, WildFire) to mitigate zero-day threats and critical CVEs, supporting compliance and audit readiness.Architected and supported F5 BIG-IP LTM & WAF platforms, securing internet-facing applications against OWASP Top 10, improving application availability and reducing false positives.Designed and supported L2/L3 enterprise networks (Cisco Catalyst 9200/9300, Nexus 7K, Aruba 6200/6400), implementing OSPF area design and BGP peering, improving routing stability and convergence.Led AWS hybrid connectivity initiatives (VPCs, routing, security groups, EC2, CloudFormation), enabling secure cloud adoption and workload scalability.Acted as final escalation authority for critical incidents, performing deep PCAP, MTU, and routing asymmetry analysis, reducing MTTR during major outages.Mentored and guided engineers, improving team troubleshooting capability and escalation efficiency.
Education
St. Joseph’s High School
High School Certification
Visvesvaraya Technological University
Bachelor of Engineering - BE
2006
St. Joseph's School
Bachelor of Engineering - BE
Find verified contacts for anyone on LinkedIn
Unifers gives sales teams verified emails and direct dials, enriched profiles, and outreach that lands in the inbox.
Free plan included · No credit card required
This profile is compiled from publicly available professional sources. Unifers is not affiliated with or endorsed by LinkedIn. Request removal of this profile.