I was only 3 years old when I first started using a computer and learned to program at the age of 8. As I was growing up, my father taught me all about electronics, robotics and IT. My journey into security began by analysing my first computer virus at the age of 11. I speak French, Spanish and English fluently. I have lived in 10 countries and visited 6 others. Since those days, I’ve been investing my time in personal projects to develop my skills and broaden my knowledge in many fields of expertise.

I am specialized in security. I worked for the Ministry of Defense when I was 19 and for governments on classified projects until the age of 23. I co-founded my first company while I was at university, which was based on military technologies, secure communications and cryptography. At the age of 24, I invented a high-speed symmetric encryption algorithm.

Since then, I’ve been exploring the startup world and have applied my expertise on several fields such as performance and optimization. In one of the startups where I worked, I used a personal technology to improve their search engine’s speed from 1.5 seconds per request to 200 nanoseconds (7 million times faster). I also built Duple, an app that aims at making the private cloud as simple as using Dropbox, with added privacy and data ownership.

Currently at 30, I came back to the hacking world, setting up my own security firm which helps startups protect themselves, by applying my expertise in these two worlds to help the most vulnerable to cyber threats.

I also have a life outside of computers. I practice martial arts and like driving motorcycles. I travel around the world with a minimalist lifestyle and do some archaeology in my free time.

Here's my personal website: alvarez.io