DOSSIER 001 — SUBJECT: J. MIDDLER
File released for public review · Rev. 2026.05
Subject
Justin Middler
Cyber Security Professional · Indigenous Australian · Canberra, ACT · Practising 2012 — present
- Practice
- Software Engineering // Cyber Security
- Tenure
- 12 years + · 2012 — present
- Prior
- Microsoft — Software Engineer, Core Azure Networking (C# / .NET)
- Frameworks
- ACSC ISM · Essential 8 · IRAP · PSPF · NIST · OWASP Top 10
- Certifications
- Microsoft AZ-900 · CompTIA Security+ · Acunetix WVS
- Stack
- TypeScript · Rust · Python · C# / .NET · PHP · Swift / React Native · PowerShell · Docker · SQL
- Status
- Operational. Open to selective engagements.
Mission Record
Cyber Security Engineer
· 2022 — present
Uplift of departmental Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) capability and modernisation of the Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) platform, including migration to Microsoft Sentinel. Built threat intelligence ingestion pipelines and executive reporting feeding SES and branch-head briefings. Drove ISM and Essential 8 compliance uplift in the internal cloud, and trained APS and contractor staff on Azure, automation, and industry-standard software engineering practice.
Software Engineer · Core Azure Networking
Microsoft · 12 months · ending 2022
Production work on the Azure networking plane in C# / .NET. Underlying components relied on daily by hundreds of millions of users. Returned to the federal practice on completion.
Cyber Security Architect · Cyber Security Officer
· 2019 — 2022
Cyber security subject-matter advice across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises workloads. Threat modelling, secure SDLC, secure code review, OWASP Top 10 implementation review. Delivered a secure container proof-of-concept environment and led architecture for production container management platforms (AKS, OpenShift, Tanzu). Briefed CISO / ITSA on findings; mentored permanent and contractor staff.
Software Engineering · DevOps · Automation
· 2012 — 2018
Six years across engineering roles supporting platforms that underpin Australia's public-facing unemployment, skills, and training services. Lead developer on the department's first AI chatbot (Microsoft Bot Framework, C#, microservice / event-driven on Azure). Introduced centralised Selenium / Page Object Model automation testing; stood up end-to-end CI/CD on Azure DevOps and TFS with custom PowerShell DSC. Server health monitoring with Dynatrace dashboards for proactive incident prevention.
Notable Impact
Introduced automated UI testing and automated server-health monitoring across a federal department's engineering practice (2014 — 2016). Patterns and pipelines still in active use.
Contributed architecture, infrastructure, release, and code to the platforms behind Australia's public-facing unemployment, skills, and training programs.
Shipped to the Azure networking plane at Microsoft. Code paths exercised daily by hundreds of millions of users worldwide.
Re-joined the federal practice in 2022 within a Technology Architecture team. Uplifted and standardised architecture artefacts still in use; introduced cadenced internal and external stakeholder rituals that materially improved inter-agency turnaround on hosting requests.
Built a lightweight task-tracking system for the EL2 practice lead, giving real-time visibility of team workload to senior executives and improving resource allocation.
Lifted the department's SOAR capability and migrated its SIEM to Microsoft Sentinel. Built threat-intelligence ingestion and reporting pipelines now used to brief SES and branch heads on cyber threat trends.
Drove ISM and Essential 8 compliance uplift across the team's internal cloud. Introduced automation that replaced manual administrative actions in Azure.
Contributed to open-source projects the team relies on, so the department consumes safer, better-maintained software from the community.
Field Artifacts
ScopeStack
Branded SOW, proposal, and quote workflow with templates, client portal acceptance, audit trails, and PDFs.
AthenemyLMS
Self-hostable LMS for course authoring, branded workspaces, payments, certificates, APIs, and automation hooks.
Tawny
Self-hosted lightweight EDR with a Zig agent, .NET backend, detection rules, and Sentinel/Wazuh forwarding.
OakAttest
Open-source IRAP assessment workspace for scoping, evidence, ISM applicability, findings, and SSP exports.
awesome-Australian-compliance
Agent skills and markdown references for Essential Eight, ISM, IRAP, PSPF, privacy, NDB, and compliance work.
IOC-Dispatch
API-first IOC submission router with provider routing, audit logs, and safe browser-automation fallbacks.
Address & Disposition
Acknowledgement of CountryI acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which this work is carried out, and pay respect to Elders past, present, and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.