Leadership

Four people build it.Two more review what it teaches.

HackZoneLabs is run by a small team of security engineers who build the platform themselves, and advised by two academics whose day job is researching the subject it covers.

The team

Everyone here writes code, builds labs, or teaches. There is no layer between the people who decide what the platform does and the people who make it do that.

Ahmar Ayaz

Founder & CEO

Penetration tester turned educator. Ahmar founded HackZoneLabs to make rigorous, hands-on cybersecurity training accessible to every aspiring defender — bridging the gap between textbook knowledge and real-world offensive security.

Penetration testing · Platform strategy · Curriculum

Haider Saeed Khan

Co-Founder & CTO

Full-stack engineer. Haider architects the cloud infrastructure and lab orchestration systems that power HackZoneLabs' real-world attack-and-defend environments at scale.

Infrastructure · CTF design · Cloud security

Ali Asghar Hussain

Co-Founder & Platform Engineer

Full-stack developer focused on crafting a seamless learner experience — from progress tracking and XP systems to flag-submission flows and lab session management.

Next.js · TypeScript · API design

Rayyan Masood

Co-Founder & Platform Engineer

Security engineer and systems builder. Rayyan works across the stack — contributing to lab design, backend services, and the tooling that keeps the platform running reliably.

Security engineering · Docker · Linux

Advisory council

Two researchers review curriculum direction and emerging-threat coverage. Neither is an employee, and both hold their appointments independently of HackZoneLabs.

Academic Advisor

Dr. M. Muhammad Waseem Iqbal

Cyber security, IoT security & digital forensics

Dr. M. Muhammad Waseem Iqbal is a cybersecurity researcher and academic currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Previously, he served at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan, where he held multiple academic and administrative roles in the Department of Information Security. His research focuses on IoT security, digital forensics, cryptography, healthcare security, and privacy-preserving systems. Dr. Iqbal has published more than 80 scientific research articles in leading journals including IEEE Internet of Things Journal, ACM Computing Surveys, and Future Generation Computer Systems. He has also led and contributed to multiple international research projects funded by organizations such as DAAD and the European Union. As a Senior Member of IEEE and an EC-Council certified instructor, he actively contributes to cybersecurity education, industry workshops, and national cybersecurity initiatives.

  • Professor — Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
  • Senior Member — IEEE
  • EC-Council Certified Instructor (CEH, CHFI)
Dr. M. Muhammad Waseem Iqbal on LinkedIn

Scientific Advisor

Dr. Faisal Iradat

Network security, security policy & applied cryptography

Dr. Faisal Iradat leads the Telecommunications Research Lab at IBA Karachi, where his work spans network security, information security policy, and applied cryptography. He brings deep academic rigour and industry-facing research to HackZoneLabs, helping ensure our curriculum reflects current threat landscapes and emerging security challenges in the region.

  • Member, Board of Studies, Department of Computer Science, School of Mathematics and Computer Science, IBA Karachi
  • Member of the Academic Cybersecurity Advisory Committee by the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication, Government of Pakistan
  • Head — Telecommunications Research Lab, IBA Karachi
  • Research focus: information security & network protocols
Dr. Faisal Iradat on LinkedIn

We hire security instructors, lab builders and engineers. [email protected] reaches the team directly.