Welcome to our new Community, we are so happy that you have joined us and we'd love to get to know you all. Please introduce yourself in this thread by telling us a little bit about yourself and your experience with Immersive Labs and Cyber Security.
I'm Kieran, the Director of Community here at Immersive Labs and I'm responsible for fostering this community, and leading our Cyber Million program which aims to help 1 Million people into cybersecurity jobs over the next decade.
Prior to this I worked with the UK NCSC to design and deliver the inaugural program of CyberFirst events, a pioneering initiative aimed at inspiring and encouraging 14 - 18 year olds to consider careers in cybersecurity. I'm a member of the UK Cyber Security Council's Qualifications Careers Working Group and carried out extensive research into the UK's Cyber Security Skills Gap as part of my MSc in Cyber Security.
I live in South West England, where you can often find me running on the trails, or running after my 7 year old son.
Hi everyone, it is great to see a good community coming together to support the best practices in Cyber Security and sharing experiences (And Solving Labs).
I am Antony, I am currently a Team Lead for the army CPT (Cyber Protection Teams), I have been using the Immersive Labs platform to support my learning in Cyber Security for the last 2 years between more formalised academic courses. Prior to that I have years of experience doing various jobs throughout the MOD all centred around communications and IT.
I use the IL platform to enhance training activity for my teams and use it especially before deployments to sharpen skills.
Glad to be here at the start and watch the community grow.
Welcome, Antantant - I was also formerly in the Army, too, albeit here in the US. I only wish we'd had a military specialization in anything cyber related, but - alas, this was 1991 and that wasn't much of an issue or threat at that time.
My name is Ben McCarthy and I have been working at Immersive for 6 years now and have watched it grow to the platform it is today.
Cyber security is a huge passion of mine, and I spend a lot of time reverse engineering for malware analysis or exploit development. I have reversed engineered malware that people are unaware of and have found exploits in production software that has gone through disclosure. If anyone wants to discuss these with me I will chat forever!
I lead the cyber threat intelligence team here at Immersive where we release labs on the latest threats against our customers industries within 24 hours - this involves CVEs, latest malware trends and emerging threats. It can be stressful but also very fun.
I can't introduce myself without talking about the new addition to my household; I have a rescue cat called "Cat"; he is about 15, has one eye and three teeth, and is the most loving animal! Here he is :)
I'm Steven, your friendly neighborhood Technical Product Manager with a serious passion for all things tech (think CCIE, Networking, Security, FreeBSD, Linux, Software Development—the whole geeky shebang!). I like to think of myself as a bit of a hybrid at Swisscom, juggling a bunch of tasks that go way beyond what you'd expect from your typical PM. So yeah, you could say I like keeping things… interesting!
When I’m not busy saving the world one packet at a time, I’m embracing the chaos at home with my two incredible daughters as well my wife and our furry overlords—aka five cats. Yes, you heard that right, five. I live near Zurich, Switzerland, where I also disappear in lakes and rivers as a diving instructor. Because why not? Who says you can't go from deep diving into code to deep diving in the seas?
Oh, and did I mention I love traveling? There's nothing quite like hitting the road and exploring new cultures and countries. Just last month, I wrapped up a 3-week epic road trip that took me from Switzerland all the way through Turkey, Georgia, and up to Armenia—all by car! It was an adventure filled with incredible landscapes, rich history, and of course, some very interesting driving experiences!
Looking forward to sharing ideas, having some fun, and learning from this awesome community. And who knows? Maybe we’ll swap cat stories or scuba adventures along the way!
Catch you around!
ps: as you shared your animals, here are my beasts! :)
Welcome Steven! It's so good to see you here! Many years ago I did a similar trip through Switzerland, across Europe, into Turkey, Georgia, Armenia and beyond. I look forward to sharing stories with you 🙂
Hi everyone. I'm echoing Kieran's sentiment that we’re so excited to welcome and get to know our community members!
I’m Tilly, the Lead Program Manager for the Immersive Labs community, which I'm very much looking forward to growing with all of our members 🤝
I’ve been an employee at Immersive for two years and prior to this I project managed our Cyber Resilience Team customer projects, working particularly closely with Cyber Crisis Simulations. We have a top-class team of Cyber Resilience Advisors and I hope that some of you are lucky enough to work with them throughout your Immersive journey.
In my spare time, I love to be outdoors - whether that’s running, gardening, busking with my band or exploring the countryside with my dog.
Pleased to meet you! Drop a intro with a note about yourself in this Welcome Forum ⬇️
I'm Viktor, married with kids, living near Zürich, Switzerland. Boring, right? Not so fast...
I was born, in the same year, the FTP protocol was invented. However, I did not learn about its existence for another 25 years or so... My first computer was a Commodore 64, for which I was saving every red penny I got for birthdays and similar events, as well as working in my spare time (vaction jobs). I can't even tell, why I was fascinated by computers from a very young age, but the fascination has never diminished.
Today I'm a senior engineer at Swisscom, responsible for network and security topics in a VoIP environment. My career-path was not straightforward, because my interest for computers actually prevented me from studying information technology on university level. Sounds strange? Not really - at the time I was so focussed on computers, that I completely ignored all other topics such as e.g. biology, history, french etc. that one SHOULD have learned at the time to get approved to a university. So I went into banking, from where I got into the IT department of that bank (assembling computers etc.), somehow landed at EUnet (the first pan-european internet provider), where I was confronted with lots of new stuff such as Unix and networking. Then I was thrown into a technical security role and just a few years later I was the head of IT at a small financial company.
After being diagnosed with cancer and recovering from it I decided, to work less and enjoy life more. So I'm not a manager anymore - I went back to engineering. More fun, less responsibility. And I'm having a great deal of fun solving labs on the Immersive Labs platform.
In my spare time I'm currently experimenting with GenAI (who isn't?) and trying not to fall into the "Netflix-and-Chill" trap. Often unsuccessfully. I also like to organize stuff. Parties, Events, Travel. I sometimes actually enjoy the oganization more than the actual event.
While most people usually say, they like travelling, I'm a little more specific: I like to travel in the USA. So far it's been 21 trips to the USA and I still have a huge bucket-list of things I want to see. I also actively participate in specific USA-travel-forums online and like the exchange with others on this topic.
Cheers, Viktor
Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly (taken with an iPhone :-))
Welcome Viktor! I was also raised on the Commodore 64 and later the Amiga 500. I am actually going to introduce my 7 year old son to The Legend of Monkey Island this weekend (at his request!)
Welcome Viktor, what an amazing photo of Spider Rock, love it! I am also a fan of a road trip in the USA having completed several across many states. My most recent were in Texas and then another in Arizona 🚙🇺🇸
Thank you, Pamela. You know, when nature is just so incredibly beautiful, it's not hard to take a picture. 😇
If you need ideas for some more road trips, you might want to look at my personal page at https://www.stony.com. It's in German, but I guess with modern translation engines, that should not be a big issue... 😉 My favourite trip took me across the USA from New York to Los Angeles in 2017.
Nice to meet you onkelstony & welcome to The Human Connection! Your intro made for a very interesting read - you're quite right that your story isn't boring. Looking forward to the great connections and discussions we can have with likeminded individuals in this space, and as you put it, have fun along the way 🤠
👋 I'm Nye, one of the Lead Cybersecurity Engineers here at Immersive. I've been with Immersive for just over 3 years and my primary focus has been creating offensive security related challenges. In a previous life, I've dabbled in Red Teaming, penetration testing, but also digital forensics! 💜
My name is Max and I have been working as a Customer Support Analyst at Immersive for just shy of 10 months now! My professional upbringing has involved a number of support centric roles across the tech industry, and I have especially enjoyed my time helping IL users overcome unique challenges each day.
Outside of work, you will find me playing music (drums or guitar), gaming with friends, or escaping Greater Boston to enjoy the various hiking trails and ski slopes the Northeast U.S. has to offer!
Thrilled to be a part of The Human Connection with you all!
I'm Chris, I work in the Customer Support Team, here at Immersive. I've been here now for just over two-years, and my focus is to help deliver the best level of support that I can to help our wonderful users.
A little bit about me then .. my hidden talent is doing impersonations, I love imitating TV characters and personalities! Football/Soccer, I support the mighty Aston Villa! I'm currently building a record collection, which I've really enjoyed doing over the past few years.
Otherwise, I'm married, have two cats, and I live in South Wales.
I'm really excited to be a part of this new community! I'm currently serving as a Sergeant in the Band of the Coldstream Guards but I've been spending the past year or two learning all about cyber security as I look to leave the army next June. I came across Immersive Labs after a meet up at the Waterloo Cyber Club, which I discovered through TechVets. Clem Cravens gave a fascinating introduction to Immersive Labs at the event and I've been hooked ever since. If you'd like to learn more about my journey then have a read of From Military Musician to Cybersecurity Consultant: How Immersive Labs Prepared Andy for His New Career .
Equally, I'd love to learn more about other people's experiences and any particularly good labs they've enjoyed. Also happy to help if anyone is new to Immersive Labs and wants a bit of help getting started!
Outside of Immersive Labs I'm a massive cycling fan and think libraries are amazing as I'm an avid reader of pretty much everything and anything!
Hey, Andy! Are you based near Coldstream, then, I assume? I have been lucky enough to visit nearby Kelso a few times, which is a lovely place and I have fond memories. Sadly, I never managed to pop to Coldstream itself - one day!
Hiya! I'm Naomi, a Senior Cybersecurity Engineer in the Content team at Immersive. I've been here for about 3 years, working in a few different areas during that time (AppSec, Reverse Engineering and Exploit Development in Offensive, and now Team Sim). I love a good challenge and try to take part in CTFs when I can, as well as having the opportunity to develop challenge content here at Immersive!
Community Manager
