A lifelong technologist with a passion for secure code, my journey began at age 9 when I taught myself BASIC programming, followed by C at 12. This early foundation expanded into dozens of programming languages throughout my career, driven by curiosity and a desire to understand systems at their core.
My cybersecurity interest sparked in the early 90s through game hacking and participating in online challenges before they were formally known as CTFs. This hands-on experience was complemented by five years of service in the United States Marine Corps as a SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) analyst, where I developed critical analytical skills and a disciplined approach to security.
My professional trajectory has spanned multiple technical domains—from building and repairing systems at a small OEM to database programming during the Y2K transition, and later enterprise Java development. This diverse background provided a comprehensive understanding of software ecosystems that proved invaluable when I pivoted to Application Security.
As a web and mobile penetration tester, I've identified vulnerabilities across numerous platforms and architectures. Today, my focus is on education—teaching hundreds of students annually how to identify security vulnerabilities in code and encouraging them to ethically hack their own applications as a pathway to building more secure software.
My approach bridges the technical expertise of a developer with the adversarial thinking of a security professional, emphasizing that truly effective application security requires both perspectives working in harmony.