Ma'alona Mafaufau

Resume

Current Research

Founder & Lead Researcher | Approxiom Research

July 2025–Present

Auckland, New Zealand

Independent AI safety research discovering systematic vulnerabilities in frontier AI systems where sophisticated moral reasoning becomes exploitable through manipulation. Validated findings across multiple AI platforms and safety domains, with responsible disclosure to companies and subsequent industry validation. Developed boundary navigation methodology enabling identification of architectural flaws missed by automated evaluation approaches.

Professional Experience

Robotics & AI Educator | Robotlab NZ

July 2025–Present

Auckland, New Zealand

Delivering high-quality STEAM education through hands-on robotics programming using the internationally recognised MakeX curriculum. Teaching students robotics, programming, and engineering concepts using mBot platforms in after-school programs and holiday workshops.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Design and deliver engaging robotics lessons aligned with MakeX educational standards

  • Prepare students for national and international MakeX competitions (Starter and Challenge categories)

  • Develop programming and problem-solving skills through project-based learning

  • Mentor students in mechanical design, sensor integration, and autonomous robot programming

  • Adapt international MakeX curriculum for New Zealand educational contexts

  • Supervise students at domestic and international robotics competitions

Videographer | Wilderness NZ

December 2024–March 2025

Auckland, New Zealand

  • Produced high-quality video content, including filming, editing, and post-production

  • Worked closely with the marketing team to understand the company's video strategy and campaign objectives

  • Developed content that aligns with brand guidelines and resonates with the target audience

  • Promoted to engineer to lead global threat hunting team (USA, Ireland, NZ)

    • Proactively hunted for Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) indicators across enterprise infrastructure, identifying suspicious patterns before alerts triggered

    • Developed and refined threat hunting hypotheses based on emerging APT tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) from threat intelligence feeds

    • Created custom detection rules and signatures for APT behavioural patterns, reducing mean time to detection (MTTD)

    • Analysed anomalous network traffic, authentication patterns, and endpoint behaviours to uncover potential APT footholds

    • Collaborated with incident response team to investigate and contain identified APT-related activities

      • Technical Analysis & Tools:

        • Leveraged SIEM queries, EDR telemetry, and network flow data to identify indicators of compromise (IOCs)

        • Performed forensic analysis on suspicious artefacts, including memory dumps, process behaviours, and persistence mechanisms

      • Intelligence & Reporting:

        • Produced threat intelligence reports on APT campaigns relevant to Workday's threat landscape

        • Maintained threat actor profiles and tracking of TTPs specific to targeting SaaS/enterprise environments

Cybersecurity Engineer | Workday

January 2023–December 2024

Auckland, New Zealand

Cybersecurity Operations Analyst | Workday

January 2022–December 2022

Auckland, New Zealand

  • Global follow-the-sun security team member ensuring 24/7 coverage

  • Detailed investigation documentation in XSOAR for seamless handovers

Cybersecurity Analyst/Intern | Datacom

April 2021–January 2022

Auckland, New Zealand

  • Initial triage analyst for SIEM detections across customer environments

  • Escalated tuning recommendations to engineering team

Data Analyst | Halter Limited

September 2019–February 2021

Auckland, New Zealand

Built machine-learning products for agricultural AI systems, analysed AI behavior patterns in real-world deployment conditions, and supported customer needs through data-driven insights.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Data wrangling, sanitisation, stitching and organisation

  • Collaborating with other data scientists/engineers/analysts to discuss insights and ideas of how to best achieve team/company goals

  • Data categorisation of cattle behaviour

  • Quality assurance of all coded behaviours

  • Helping farm researchers and data engineers collect data from cattle in situ which included miscellaneous mechanical duties

Actuarial Analyst | Ministry of Social Development

April 2018–August 2019

Wellington, New Zealand

Provide actuarial analysis for the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), and other parts of the social sector where required, particularly in relation to the Investment Approach (IA). The Actuarial function of MSD develops forecasting models and analytical tools for estimating and monitoring the performance of the ministry, as well as provide support and advice to MSD staff regarding the IA.

This work resulted in the following project:

  • Modelling Social Outcomes [MAA2018-48]

    • Since 2012, the Ministry of Social Development has done detailed modelling to help us understand what happens to people today, and what might happen in the future. This helps us understand people’s needs, so that we can support them with better services. This project is to extend our modelling to give a broader view of people’s wellbeing. This improvement will help us support better outcomes for New Zealanders. Examples of research questions that this project should help answer include:

      • How is people’s need for the Ministry’s services likely to change in the future?

      • How do changes in the economy and housing markets affect people’s need for the Ministry’s services?

      • What factors (both good and bad) influence people's wellbeing?

      • How are these factors changing, and how does the Ministry’s work affect those changes?

      • How are these factors related to things that the Ministry can do to improve people's wellbeing?

      • How are the lives of people supported by welfare or public housing different to the lives of those who aren’t?

      • How do people's lives change when they move off support?

      • How do employment, welfare, and public housing supports impact poverty, employment, and health outcomes?

Community & Teaching Experience

Pasifika Tech Tutor/Speaker | Pasifika Tech Education Charity

September 2022–November 2024

Auckland, New Zealand

  • Lead workshops helping Pacific students develop practical tech skills

  • Organised workplace visits connecting students with industry professionals

  • Helped bridge cultural perspectives in technology education

  • An example of an organised workplace visit while I was a Cybersecurity Engineer at Workday

  • Supported Māori and Pasifika students in STATS 20X: Data Analysis

  • Developed culturally responsive teaching methods for technical concepts

  • Part of the university's flagship indigenous student support programme

Tuākana Statistics Tutor | University of Auckland

March 2015–November 2016

Auckland, New Zealand

Additional Experience

Freelance Videographer

2023–Present

International Hip-Hop Competitor

2004–2011

Dance Tutor

2004–2011

Education

Bachelor of Science (Honours) | Statistics

May 2016

University of Auckland

Bachelor of Science, Double Major | Mathematics & Statistics

May 2015

University of Auckland

Certifications & Training

  • Completed the Mission Ready HQ Full Stack Developer Accelerator covering:

    • Create responsive web applications

    • Develop server-side software

    • Use professional coding frameworks and libraries

    • Security best practices

    • Database development

    • Perform unit testing

    • Use of IDE and source code management tools

    • Coding best practices

    • Understand software licenses

  • Credential badge: https://www.credential.net/6f647d31-cbd0-4b57-ac98-9a658d993c31#acc.k27D3BG6

Full Stack Developer | Mission Ready HQ

August 2025

Palo Alto Networks Cybersecurity Professional Certificate

February 2025

AWS Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner

August 2023

Blue Team Level 1 (BTL1)

September 2022

Splunk Fundamentals 1

September 2021

  • Professional certification in Splunk SIEM Triage