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.
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, 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 🤠
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!)
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! :)
I'm Neil and I've been fortunate to be on the journey with Immersive Labs for over five years now! What a wonderful and amazing journey it has been and continues to be. 😄
As one of the longer tenure 'Immersers,' I've enjoyed seeing our platform and products evolve and grow to meet the needs of our customers and the wider cybersecurity industry. THIS is my passion, this is what drives me. As Global Head of our Cyber Resilience Team (often known as Professional Services in the SaaS business) me and my team are committed to supporting YOU, our customers, partners, and the Immersive Community in your human cyber capability and becoming more cyber resilient.
Outside of Immersive Land, I enjoy all-year-round mountaineering, hiking, and biking with the family, and am a keen swimmer.
Delighted to be part of the Human Connection. Please feel free to reach out and contact me if you would like any advice or guidance on building your cyber resiliency.
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.
Hiya! I'm Andrada, I've been a Customer Support Analyst at Immersive for over 2 years now, and love it😁. Happy to be part of this Community, see you soon!🐈
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've worked here at Immersive as part of the AppSec for 4 years now. I enjoy writing labs, content and anything AppSec. Everyday brings new challenges which makes it a rewarding place to be.
If I'm not being a nerd you can find me playing basketball games pretending to be a centre that's actually shorter than most point guards 🙃 I'm also a incredibly proud chocolate Labrador Dad.
If you've got any opinions on AppSec I'm all ears. The spicier takes the better. Pen-testing is overrated? "Shift everywhere" isn't a real solution? C-Levels should know how to Threat model? Rust is overrated and you should probably just use Go? See you in the replies for some fun spirited hot takes 😏🌶️
Hi there! My name is Jessica, and I'm a Customer Success Manager here at Immersive Labs based in the Annapolis, Maryland, area (Go Blues! 💙 ⚽ 🦀). I've been in Customer Success for about a decade, and simply put my favorite thing about my role is helping people solve problems! I'm always down for a good brainstorm or strategy session.
When I'm not at my desk, you can find me hanging out with my colleagues in the office! Meet my team:
🐕 Maple, Office Manager - Miniature Australian Shepherd (7 years experience)
🐈⬛ Frank, Office Layabout - Nebelung (2 years experience)
🐈⬛ Charlie, Office Clown - Nebelung (2 years experience)
I'll edit to include a team photo later!
Did I mention I work remotely? 🤣 If any of my colleagues pop in to a meeting, there's about a 99% chance it's Charlie, and he will be distracting anyone and everyone!
Looking forward to experiencing the Human Connection with you all!
Community Manager
