Background
About Me
Passionate, Curious, and a Life-long Learner
My name is Mario Raya-Alvarez — also known as raya-sunshine. I am an enthusiastic cybersecurity professional with over 10 years of experience. I started my career in 2015 as an Information Systems Technician in the Navy, growing through roles as a network engineer, system engineer, and Information System Security Officer (ISSO).
After 8 years of service I began working as a DoD contractor. I currently serve as an Information System Security Manager (ISSM) for the DIA. I am responsible for securing mission-critical systems, driving modernization efforts and streamlining continuous improvement across the enterprise environment.
Portfolio
Projects
A few things I have been building
Cloud Infrastructure
mariorayasunshine.com
Portfolio site built on AWS infrastructure aligned with the five pillars of Amazon's Well-Architected Framework.
- Custom domain purchased and managed via Route 53
- Static files hosted in an Amazon S3 bucket
- Global delivery and caching via CloudFront
- SSL/TLS certificate issued by AWS Certificate Manager
- Automated deploys via AWS CLI PowerShell script with cache invalidation
Full-Stack & Cloud
Recipe Repository
A full-stack recipe sharing app for family and friends — built on a serverless AWS backend with user authentication, a REST API, and a live database.
- Serverless REST API built with API Gateway and AWS Lambda
- NoSQL data storage with DynamoDB (CRUD operations: create, read, update)
- User authentication via Amazon Cognito using the OAuth2 implicit grant flow
- JWT Bearer token handling — storage, validation, and session expiry in the browser
- Vanilla JS fetch API with async/await for all client-server communication
- Client-side search filtering across titles, ingredients, and steps in real time
- Static site hosted on S3 + CloudFront with a custom domain via Route 53
Next Project
Something new is in the works — stay tuned!
Say Hello
Let's Connect
Feel free to reach out — I am always open to new conversations.