Who am I?

Hello! My name is Sam, I am a Cybersecurity enthusiast who has recently graduated from Northumbria University with a First Class (Honors) degree in Networks and Cybersecurity.

I have always had an interest in computers but what really caught my interest was reading news articles on how cybercriminals where able to either break or even bypass the security systems and controls that an organisation had in place. The first major event I can remember and experienced was the PlayStation Network hack of 2011, hackers where able to gain access to 77 Million accounts taking PSN offline for twenty-three days whilst they investigated the breach. That ability to understanding a system to the point where you can perform these kinds of attacks really fascinated me. Rather than attempting to break these systems I want to be able to assist in the creation of secure systems and to make security part of the operational and development process as opposed to an afterthought.

Some of my interests in the cybersecurity sphere include ethical hacking, infrastructure, and human elements in cybersecurity. Over the years I have built up a collection of computers and network hardware to build out a home lab where I can practice hacking in a safe environment. The process of configuring and setting up the lab has taught be valuable skills about best practices when it comes to design and implementation. Human factors in security interest me as a system could have the latest and greatest security protocols in place but the system is only as secure as its weakest user. This is particularly true when it comes to phishing, arguably the biggest risk in the security sphere. At the last place I worked at I had the opportunity to perform simulated attacks on users to improve their security awareness.

Other technical areas I am interested include Machine Learning (ML) and Smart systems. Whilst at University I had the opportunity to work on projects in both of these areas. My final year project/dissertation was developing a cloud based phishing detection solution that would use’s machine learning to predict if an email is genuine or not. To do this I developed and trained the model in the Azure Machine Learning Studio and hosting the model as a web application. From here Azure Logic Apps were used to interact with the model and then remove emails if they are malicious. In addition to this, in an IoT module in the same year I worked on developing a self-adjusting solar prototype panel that would track the sun across the sky. It was a group project, and I was responsible for the infrastructure that would take voltage and current readings from an Arduino board and send it to a Power BI dashboard where a user could view how much electricity the panel would generate and how much it is worth based if they were to sell it back to the grid. Both these projects have allowed me to explore new platforms and develop my programming and problem-solving abilities.

In my spare time I play the alto-saxophone and have participated in various school shows and the local community band over the years. I am into my video games where I have assembled my own dream PC where I can enjoy a variety of different experiences including Virtual Reality.