United States
When I was a kid I was captivated by movies like 'War Games', 'The Manhattan Project', 'Sneakers', and 'Hackers'. Honestly, anything to do with computers, electronics, sci-fi, or spies quickly rose to the top of my 'must watch' list. Then one day you have to decided what you're going to do with your life, so when that day came for me, IT was a no-brainer. I say that, but if you hopped in the DeLorean with Doc Brown and visited 16-year-old me and told him that one day he'd be popping root shells and helping others learn to do the same, he'd probably direct you toward the nearest qualified mental-health professional. Well it's been over 20 years since I landed my first IT workstation support gig and believe it or not, I still find it challenging and interesting work. Cybersecurity is undoubtedly extremely important work, but it doesn't hurt my feelings that it also has the added benefit of being extremely fun! The amazing adrenaline rush you get when you've been working on exploiting a system and finally you've discovered the right formula to make that terminal prompt change is well worth the hours or even days of frustration. Then there's the cybersec community. Such giving folks. They always seem to have the time and patience to help someone understand something or are creating some really helpful new tool that they give away for FREE. This community has afforded me the opportunity to be both the beneficiary and benefactor; learning many useful things as a conference or training attendee and doing my best to share my knowledge as a trainer and conference speaker. Now my work days consists of basically 3 things. Learning all I can about Cybersecurity, using that knowledge to create awesome training content, and attempting to help the next crop of cybersecurity students reach their goals in becoming experts themselves.
SME in the Cyber Security space. I am responsible for delivering video training content in all spheres of Cyber Security including, cyber defense processes and procedures, offensive security, penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, mitigation strategies, incident response, physical security, social engineering, etc.
Systems and network administrator and Level 3 support for multi-site insurance company with thousands of end-users and network clients. My systems administration duties included: - Maintaining and supporting Windows Server Active Directory domain - Microsoft Exchange email management and support - Deploy and support updates and patches with Microsoft WSUS - Manage and support ESX virtualization - Third-party vendor administration (Vertafore/ImageRight, MapMarker, Pitney Bowes) Network administration duties included: - Configuration, management, and troubleshooting of Cisco Routers and Switches - Configuration, management, and troubleshooting of Dell switches - Configuration, management, and troubleshooting of HP switches - Running and terminating network cables - Cable management for network closets - Troubleshooting and resolving network connectivity issues Security duties included: - Deploying, maintaining, and supporting endpoint security (Kaspersky and Symantec) - Maintaining and securing physical tape backups - Assisted in deploying security awareness training - Malware detection/removal - Security baseline assessment - Destruction of sensitive materials
I provided technical training in a classroom environment for technologies related to Microsoft, Cisco, and Linux such as: - Installation and configuration of Windows Server/Workstation, - Active Directory - WAN/LAN/VLAN connectivity for Cisco routers and switches - Linux systems and user administration I also taught CompTIA A+, Network+, and Linux+.