About the practice
Michel Kinasz
Security engineer and architect. Independent consulting through PayZen Cybersecurity Inc., based in Ottawa, Canada.
Architecture that stays close to implementation.
I work on security-sensitive software where a design has to survive real protocols, real devices, and detailed evaluation. My background spans cryptographic libraries, embedded network platforms, mobile payments, application protection, and security tooling.
I help teams connect the security requirement to the code and configuration that implement it, and to the evidence that shows whether it works.
Current work
At Ciena, as a Senior Software Security Engineer, I own host-software security for coherent optical transport platforms. My work spans cryptographic dependencies, SSH/TLS integration, vulnerability management, embedded Linux hardening, and evaluation evidence.
I also build and operate retrieval/MCP tooling and governed AI-assisted engineering workflows, with explicit human control over design decisions, execution, and verification.
Earlier experience
Bank of Canada · 2022–2024 — Mobile security architecture for CBDC research, including a non-custodial wallet proof of concept, key-management principles, and threat modeling.
Amadis · 2019–2022 — Mobile payment acceptance architecture, application protection, white-box cryptography, and mobile threat defense.
Irdeto · 2011–2019 — Application protection and DRM, hardened certificate validation, HSM-backed key provisioning, and Linux security-module development.
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.