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 look forward to meeting you all Kieran

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.RgdsAnt

Hello to the community!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 :)

Hi Awesome People,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! :)BijouJamieMimiNeo Flocke

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 ⬇️

Ok, introduction time.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,ViktorSpider Rock in Canyon de Chelly (taken with an iPhone :-))

Introductions | Immersive Community

133 Replies

NeilMcEwan
Immerser
12 months ago
Hi there Immersive Community!
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.
Neil.
- TillyCorless
  Community Manager
  12 months ago
  Brilliant intro NeilMcEwan
  
  When Neil says he's passionate, he means it! Amazing to have you here & I'm excited to see what you can both give to and learn from this community 🤝
Antantant
Bronze I
12 months ago
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.
Rgds
Ant
- RobbieCooper
  Immerser
  11 months ago
  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.
- TillyCorless
  Community Manager
  12 months ago
  👋 Welcome Antantant it's great to have you here! Looking forward to all the knowledge sharing that will take place on The Human Connection.
MadelineDadamio
Community Support
2 years ago
Hey everyone!

I'm Madeline, and I joined the Immersive team back in January as a Customer Support Analyst. Super excited to be part of this awesome community!

A bit about me: I love hiking and skiing. Whether I'm on a trail or a ski slope, I just enjoy being outdoors.

Looking forward to experiencing the Human Connection with you all!
- JessicaThompson
  Immerser
  11 months ago
  MadelineDadamioyou forgot to mention you're an absolute rockstar in our Customer Support team! 🤩 Welcome 👋
- TillyCorless
  Community Manager
  2 years ago
  Welcome, MadelineDadamio 👋
AndradaCraciun
Community Support
2 years ago
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!🐈
- TillyCorless
  Community Manager
  2 years ago
  Welcome, AndradaCraciun 👋 Great to have you here supporting our customers!
MaxCucchi
Community Support
2 years ago
Hey Community 👋

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!
- TillyCorless
  Community Manager
  2 years ago
  Hey MaxCucchi 👋 great to have you and your wealth of experience in this community 😃
AdamMartin
Community Support
2 years ago
Hi everyone, my name is Adam and I have the absolute pleasure of leading our amazing Customer Support Team here at Immersive.

I have always loved tech, from building computers and throwing LAN parties in my teens, to working for this amazing company coming up on 5 years.

These days you’ll find me in Bristol, dabbling in photography, climbing, and the art of wedding planning!

See you all in the community 👍
- TillyCorless
  Community Manager
  2 years ago
  Welcome AdamMartin
  Great intro, really excited to have you join this community!
RobertKlentzeris
Immerser
2 years ago
Hi everyone, I'm Robert Klentzeris.
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 😏🌶️
JessicaThompson
Immerser
2 years ago
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!
- JessicaThompson
  Immerser
  11 months ago
  Maple!Frank!Charlie!
- TillyCorless
  Community Manager
  2 years ago
  Great to have you here, JessicaThompson
BarnyStewart
Immerser
2 years ago
Hey, all! I'm Barny, lead application security engineer here at Immersive Labs. I've been with Immersive for about a year, previous to which I was a penetration tester for 7 years.

Prior to that, I've been lucky enough to work as a software developer for a variety of companies of all sizes and to see a few interesting places around the world while I was at it. I've also spent some time working in production (staging, lighting, and sound for events) and driven lorries of various sizes professionally.

I love a good film and the odd computer game (especially with friends and family), and my first 3D printer just arrived today, so I'm excited to start tinkering with it!
- TillyCorless
  Community Manager
  2 years ago
  Welcome BarnyStewart 👋 pleased to have you here
ChrisKershaw
Community Support
2 years ago
Hi all 👋🏻

Lovely to e-meet 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.
- TillyCorless
  Community Manager
  2 years ago
  Hey Chris! 👋 Welcome to Immersive Community: The Human Connection!