Sandeep Karnik
My work spans adversary simulation, detection engineering, malware analysis, Active Directory red teaming, EDR, AWS security, infrastructure engineering, and cloud architecture - and the messy space where they all collide.
BytesCop is where I turn that experience into hands-on learning.
I'm Sandeep Karnik - the creator of BytesCop and founder of PalaviTech, a cybersecurity firm working in malware analysis, adversary simulation and defensive tooling. My work spans reverse-engineering malware samples and developing controlled payloads to test what EDR solutions actually detect, through to penetration testing of web applications, mobile apps and Active Directory - with reporting that goes beyond identifying vulnerabilities to clearly defining how they should be remediated.
The other half of my background is more than 25 years in enterprise IT, including experience with Microsoft Corporation and programmes for MNCs and Fortune 500 companies across the US, Europe and India. I've also built an AWS cloud architecture practice focused on high availability, disaster recovery, data protection and governance, with infrastructure managed as code.
That combination shapes how I approach security. Understanding how systems are designed, deployed and operated - from IAM models and trust boundaries to logging and data pipelines - provides important context for understanding how they behave when subjected to attack. BytesCop brings these two perspectives together: the mindset of understanding how systems can be tested and challenged, with the practical knowledge of how they are built and secured in the first place.
I've had the privilege of working with Sandeep Karnik over the past few years, and he consistently stands out as one of the strongest penetration testing and ethical hacking professionals I've collaborated with. His combination of deep technical expertise and highly practical, real-world thinking means he doesn't just find vulnerabilities - he explains the real risk, prioritizes what matters, and helps teams actually fix them. Sandeep is thorough in his methodology, and exceptionally reliable when dealing with complex, business-critical security assessments. I would confidently recommend Sandeep for any organization looking for a trusted, top-tier expert to lead or execute penetration testing and ethical hacking projects.
Sandeep & I worked together at Microsoft's Dynamics Division in Denmark during transition of its on-premise products to their 3-tier cloud ready equivalents. Sandeep is a skilled technical architect in cloud and solution architecture space - someone who is a fast learner, go-getter, persistent, problem solver with out of the box creative thinking combined with innovative and contemporary techniques.
Sandeep is our window to the future. Always 10 steps ahead of us. We have benefitted immensely from his constant hunger to share and teach new things in the IT-sphere. Holding his finger offers us the confidence to step ahead.
Sandeep has a great mind to combine understanding for customer needs and features on one side and the technical implications on the other. When adding all the hard work Sandeep did in our team I was a true pleasure to work with him.
Your PC Is Acting Weird… Can You Find the RAT Before It's Too Late?
No EDR, no alerts, no clue - a live hunt for a RAT hiding in plain sight on a Windows box, tracked down with Sysinternals Process Explorer.
Watch on YouTube →Understanding NTFS Permission Inheritance and Reading icacls Output
A practical guide to NTFS inheritance flags (CI, OI, IO, NP, I) - what each flag means, how they combine, how to read real icacls output, and twelve common misconfiguration mistakes that lead to security issues.
Anatomy of a Malware Dropper: Static and Dynamic Analysis Walkthrough
A step-by-step teardown of a real-world malware dropper - from PE header analysis and string extraction through sandbox execution, IOC extraction, MITRE ATT&CK mapping, and YARA rule creation.
5 Active Directory Attack Paths We Find in Every Engagement
Kerberoasting, DCSync, unconstrained delegation, NTLM relay, and credential spraying - how each attack works, what defenders see in logs, and concrete steps to remediate.
Building Detection Rules That Actually Fire: A Sigma Rule Development Guide
How to write Sigma detection rules that catch real attacks without drowning your SOC in false positives - with five production-ready rules, SIEM conversion examples, and a tuning methodology.
More in development, on malware analysis, adversary simulation and detection engineering - drawn from engagements, not textbooks.
