After a varied career I settled into IT in 2007, working help desk and carrying out level 1 and 2 tasks and projects. In 2012 I began working for a cyber security vendor on their cloud product help desk and have worked for vendors ever since, first of all in professional services, and then as a solutions engineer.

 

In that time I've witnessed first hand the damage cyber attacks can do to businesses, even those with good defence in depth security stacks and well trained staff.

 

My journey towards a novel started with National Novel Writer's Month in November 2017. For anyone that isn't aware there are groups and guidance to help you achieve a 50,000 word story by the end of the month. That served as the framework from which system("PAUSE"); emerged, although it has evolved a lot in the last seven years. If it hadn't been for NaNoWriMo I have no doubt I wouldn't have had the first steps towards writing a book. They say there's a novel in everyone so I recommend everyone does NaNoWriMo and see where it takes you.

 

The ultimate aim is that this book turns into a series, where my protagonist wavers between black, white and grey hat hacker.

 

In 2024 I became a Certified Ethical Hacker and this opened my eyes to what happens on the other side of the internet connection, and the ease by which cyber attacks can be run by bad actors.This inspired me to create a series of videos to serve as awareness training and help demonstrate why cyber security advice is given. Have a look at the cyber security tab on my website for some example videos showing some of these in action. The purpose of the videos is not to teach people how to hack, but instead give an insight into some of the tools used by attackers so you can better defend yourself. The logic follows that if you were able to watch a thief break into your house you'd know how to defend it better.