Inputs → controlled access → tools
Application & AI security
Put clear boundaries around sensitive data, AI tools, and the actions your applications can take.
Explore AI securityIndependent security engineering · Ottawa, Canada
Sound architecture.
Secure implementation.
Evidence that holds up.
I help engineering teams secure complex products, modernize cryptographic foundations, and prepare for demanding security evaluations.
Michel Kinasz · Security engineer & architect
Independent consulting through PayZen Cybersecurity.
Engineering experience
across demanding environments
- Ciena
- Bank of Canada
- Amadis
- Irdeto
01 / Where I can help
Security at the difficult boundaries.
For engineering leaders, security architects, and teams building regulated products.
Generate → protect → rotate
Cryptography & assurance
Modernize cryptographic dependencies and prepare the implementation evidence your evaluators need.
Explore cryptographyEndpoint → verification → platform
Payments & embedded systems
Design for exposed devices, demanding platforms, and security controls that hold up in practice.
Explore platform security02 / Selected experience
Close to the code. Accountable for the detail.
Ciena · Platform security
Modernizing the foundations of trust.
Host-software security for coherent optical transport platforms: cryptographic dependencies, SSH/TLS integration, vulnerability management, and embedded Linux hardening.
From dependency analysis and compatibility fixes to reproducible verification and evaluator evidence, the work connects architecture to what the system actually does.
Read the engineering story03 / Engineering perspectives
Useful depth for the decision ahead.
Cryptographic engineering
Plan the migration before changing the algorithm
Inventory dependencies, identify compatibility risks, and sequence a post-quantum transition.
AI security
Where does untrusted input become authority?
Map prompt injection to the data and tools an AI workflow can actually reach.
Payment systems
Design for the device you cannot trust
Understand the boundaries between a mobile endpoint, protected keys, and backend controls.
Start with the engineering problem
What needs to be secure?
Share your system, the decision ahead, and the constraints. We’ll work out a useful next step.