Ayhan Yuseinov

Building This Website

Website

In my final year of the Bachelor's in Cyber Security Professional, we were tasked with creating an e-portfolio in the form of a blog platform. This portfolio serves as a platform to write articles about our projects and cover events we’ve attended throughout the program.

Design

At first, I wanted to register ayhan.com, but it was already taken, so I went with ayhan.be. After securing both the domain and hosting, I focused on developing a clean and modern design for the website. I applied the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills I gained during my studies to build a sleek and professional layout.

Hosting

I initially used Vimexx, but found its admin panel outdated. Seeking a better solution, I migrated to Actiefhost, which offered a more intuitive interface and improved performance. One feature of Actiefhost that I appreciate is the ability to edit code directly through Visual Studio Code in the browser. This has been incredibly convenient for making quick updates without needing to install extra tools.

Menukaartje.be

SaaS

This year, I took a bold step into the world of entrepreneurship by buying a SaaS designed for the restaurant sector. The idea is simple: create a digital QR-code menu card that's easy to use for customers.

Restaurants, cafés, or beach bars can offer their customers a QR code printed on a sticker or tent card. When a customer scans the code, they are immediately directed to a webpage where they can browse the complete menu of the venue. It’s a fast, contactless, and modern solution.

After working on the setup, marketing, and product presentation, I’m proud to say that I’ve landed my first client! Not only have they started using the digital menu system, but they’ve also paid their first invoice, which is a huge milestone for any entrepreneur.

This project has taught me a lot about:

• The power of simple, effective solutions for real-world problems.
• The importance of clear communication with clients.
• How satisfying it is to see an idea come to life and create value.

I'm curious to see where this journey takes me next.

Interested in seeing how it works? Check out Menukaartje.be. It’s already ranked in the top 5 on Google!

Cyber Security Challenge Belgium

Active Event

On 14–15 March 2025, I participated in the Cyber Security Challenge Belgium online qualifier round. For this event I teamed up with a fellow student, and although we didn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to the competition due to our personal schedules, we still managed to solve a variety of challenges at the easy and medium difficulty levels.

The CTF offered a great mix of topics, including cryptography, DNS, forensics, web security, mobile, reverse engineering, programming, pwn, and more. A highlight of the event was solving a DNS challenge, which I found really enjoyable. Click the link below to read the write-up of this challenge.

After the event, I took some time to review how other teams approached the challenges and read several write-ups shared by participants. Seeing different techniques and strategies gave me new perspectives and ideas for improving my own problem-solving approach in future competitions. Overall, it was a fun and valuable learning experience.

Write-up

Check out

Tech & Meet: Google SRE

Passive Event

As part of our university’s Tech & Meet series, I had the opportunity to attend a session led by two Site Reliability Engineers from Google, Stefaan V. and Tijl Van den Broeck. It was a thought-provoking deep dive into Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), a field that sits at the crossroads of software engineering and systems engineering.

A Culture, Not Just a Role

Stefaan started with an introduction about the philosophy behind SRE. “It’s not just a job title,” he emphasized, “it’s a culture”. At Google, SRE begins after a product is built. The goal is to ensure the system remains available, reliable, and responsive long after deployment. He pointed out that much like security, reliability is often treated as an afterthought until something breaks. That’s when it becomes critical.

SRE vs DevOps

A common question that emerged during the talk was the distinction between SRE and DevOps. While both aim to bridge the gap between development and operations, SRE brings with it specific engineering practices and a heavy emphasis on measurable reliability.

Tijl broke down the following key concepts:

• SLI (Service Level Indicator) – A metric that quantifies the level of service
• SLO (Service Level Objective) – A target for how good the service needs to be
• SLA (Service Level Agreement) – A contractually binding commitment around those targets

They stressed that maintaining these levels requires a careful balance because ironically, striving for 100% reliability can be more costly than a bit of planned downtime.

G-Hack Demo

One of the highlights was the interactive SRE G-Hack demo, originally showcased at the Google Cloud Summit. Through simulated failure scenarios, we got to see how SREs react in real time to keep systems running under pressure. It was intense to see what happens behind the scenes at one of the world’s most complex infrastructures.

No Internship in Belgium

On a personal note, I asked the speakers about internship opportunities at Google. Unfortunately, it's not possible to do an internship in Belgium, but perhaps that just means it’s time to start exploring other locations!

Hack The Future

Active Event

Winning Moment

I am thrilled to share our success at today’s Hack The Future networking event, where my teammate Mirthe Reynders and I were honored with the “Are there clouds among the stars” award by public vote. This event offered us an opportunity to deepen our understanding of API integration and AWS Cloud.

Mentor Support

I'd like to extend my gratitude to the amazing coaches Damien Mesure, Robin Peerlinck and Samuel Vandecasteele from i8c for guiding us throughout the hackathon. Their expert guidance and unwavering support were instrumental in helping us navigate the complexities of the competition. A huge thanks to De Cronos Groep for organizing such an unforgettable event.

Highlight

One highlight of the day was our visit to the Antwerp Zoo during the break, which added a unique touch to our overall experience.

Challenges

Coming into the hackathon, I had very little experience with Cloud technologies, and I initially struggled to find my way. Fortunately, Mirthe, who has Cloud as part of her coursework, brought valuable knowledge to our team. Despite the steep learning curve, I was proud to solve two of the challenges, while she successfully tackled another two, bringing our total to four out of five challenges completed. Although we couldn't solve the final challenge, we gave it our best shot. Along the way, I gained hands-on experience with AWS Lambda functions and deepened my understanding of Cloud through real problem-solving.

Reflections

Winning the public vote at the "Are there clouds among the stars" challenge is a true reflection of our dedication, hard work, and passion for innovation. It is a testament to our commitment to pushing boundaries and exploring new possibilities in the world of technology.

Future Outlook

Overall, this event was a tremendous success, and I am grateful for the opportunity to participate. I look forward to future challenges and opportunities to delve deeper into Cloud technology.

Solution

Check out

Tech & Meet: Cyber Command Belgium

Passive Event

Today, I attended Tech & Meet: Cyber Command Belgium at my university, an event that offered an insider look into the future of cyber defense in our country.

The session was led by Colonel Godefridis, who currently serves as the Director for Development & Readiness at the Belgian Cyber Command. With over 20 years of military experience, he brought a wealth of knowledge, and more importantly, a deep passion for cyber resilience.

He shared insights into Belgium’s cyber defense strategy, including recent responses to Russian cyber threats and how NATO now officially recognizes cyberspace as a combat domain, alongside land, sea, air, and space. That shift shows just how critical cybersecurity has become in modern defense.

One of the more surprising takeaways was learning that the Belgian Cyber Command has legal authority to access suspects' phones without prior approval in specific circumstances. It raised interesting discussions around privacy, security, and the balance between them.

Colonel Godefridis also introduced a unique concept: a “civilian + reservist” role. This allows skilled civilians to contribute to national cybersecurity without going through the full rigor of military training. It’s a concept that reflects the growing importance of collaboration and lifelong learning in this field.

He encouraged students to consider careers or academic paths related to cyber defense, emphasizing that the door is open for anyone passionate about making a difference. His personal journey and the challenges he faced in building cybersecurity capabilities within the army were truly inspiring.

Tech & Meet: How Baserow Embraces Low-Code

Passive Event

Introduction to Low-Code Development

I had the privilege of attending a Tech & Meet event at my university, presented by Frederik Duchi from Baserow, where he shared insights on the impact of low-code platforms. In today’s fast-moving world of software development, low-code has become a game-changer, enabling developers to build applications with minimal hand-coding and saving significant time.

What is Baserow?

Baserow is an open-source online database tool that allows users to create their own database applications without the need for extensive coding knowledge. In a market with over 100 different low-code platforms now available, Baserow stands out by enabling users to easily build custom databases, tables, and fields to suit their specific needs.

Key Features

Some key features of Baserow include drag-and-drop table creation, customizable field types, and the ability to link tables together. Users can also import and export data, collaborate with team members in real-time, and create API endpoints for seamless integration with other applications. Additionally, because Baserow is open source, you have full ownership of your data, can run it securely on your own servers (using Docker Compose, for example), and extend it with plugins if you need custom functionality.

Building Scalable Databases

Another feature of Baserow is its ability to scale effortlessly as data volume grows. Users can add and remove fields, tables, and records on the fly without any downtime, ensuring their database remains flexible and adaptable to changing requirements. Whether it's creating a task management system or a smoothie ordering system, as demoed during the event, Baserow makes scaling straightforward and seamless.

Creating Applications

With Baserow, users can go beyond just creating databases and actually build fully functional applications. Using the platform's intuitive interface, developers can design custom interfaces, automate workflows, and create interactive dashboards, all without writing a single line of code. As Frederik mentioned, you could even build a mobile app using tools like Microsoft Power Apps in just 10 minutes.

Benefits

The main advantage of using a low-code platform like Baserow is the significant reduction in development time and cost. By empowering users to build their own applications quickly and easily, Baserow enables businesses to innovate faster, respond to market changes more effectively, and stay ahead of the competition. Additionally, the platform's open-source model, scalability, and flexibility make it an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes looking to streamline their development processes, all while keeping security and data ownership firmly in their own hands.