Kevin O'Connor

Director of Threat Research | Cybersecurity Expert

root@kevinbytes:~$ cat profile.txt
Dedicated cybersecurity professional with a focus on threat research and malware analysis. Passionate about understanding and defending against emerging cyber threats.

Achievements

  • 15+ years in cybersecurity
  • Led small and large cybersecurity teams across government, military, and private sector
  • Published cybersecurity researcher / threat hunter / analyst / author
  • Regular speaker at security conferences (Blackhat sponsored, ITLACON, etc.), op-eds, podcast guest, televised expert, etc.

Certifications

  • CISSP - Certified Information Systems Security Professional Exam
  • CEH - Certified Ethical Hacker Exam
  • A+ / Net+ / Sec+
  • Some AWS and Microsoft / Azure Certifications
  • Specific network device brands; Juniper, Aruba, etc.

Primary Tools

penetrationTesting

MetasploitBurp Suite ProfessionalNmap+4 more

malwareAnalysis

IDA ProGhidraOllyDbg+4 more

networkSecurity

NessusOpenVASSnort+3 more

Experience

Director of Threat Research

Current Company

2021 - Present

Leading a team of security researchers in analyzing emerging threats, developing detection strategies, feeding machine learning models, and conducting incident response operations.

Security Researcher

CrowdStrike

2019 - 2020

Worked with their Advanced Research Team (ART) to investigate and publish cyber threats.

Technical Director

US Department of Defense

2011 - 2018

Led a team of cybersecurity experts in developing and implementing advanced solutions for the Department of Defense.

IT Lab Supervisor

Penn State - Information Technology Services

2009 - 2011

First paying IT job cutting chops helping faculty, staff, and students, running computer labs, customer support, supervisory role, etc.

Education

NSA Security Engineering Enrichment and Development (SEED) Program

National Security Agency

2015

Trained to be a world-class Information System Security Engineer and Cybersecurity Expert through rotational assignments, education, mentorship, and training.

Postgraduate Certificate in Information Systems Security Engineering (ISSE)

Naval Postgraduate School

Monterey, California

2013

Specialized training in advanced security engineering principles and methodologies from operating system fundamentals, covert channels, cryptography, and Certified Ethical Hacker.

Bachelor of Science in Security & Risk Analysis

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, Pennsylvania

2012

Focus on information assurance and cybersecurity, risk management frameworks, analysis, and reporting

Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Technology

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, Pennsylvania

2012

Comprehensive study of information systems and technology from C++, Java, and Databases to Project Management

Technical Skills

Core Languages

Python

Primary language for security tooling and automation

JavaScript/TypeScript

Web application development and security testing

Go

Backend services and security tools development

HTML/CSS

Modern web development with TailwindCSS and responsive design

SQL

Database design and complex queries

Additional Languages

C#/.NET

Windows application development

C++

System-level programming and malware analysis

C

Low-level systems programming

PHP

Web application development

LUA

Scripting and automation

Languages

🇺🇸
English
Native English Speaker
Primary language for all professional and academic work
🇫🇷
Français
Advanced Academic & Professional
"Je parle français"
Studied from secondary school through university, with professional experience
🇷🇺
Русский
Academic Proficiency
"Я говорю по-русски"
Studied through high school and university coursework

Tools & Software

penetration Testing7

Metasploit

Burp Suite Professional

Nmap

Cobalt Strike

BloodHound

Empire

Impacket

malware Analysis7

IDA Pro

Ghidra

OllyDbg

x64dbg

Wireshark

YARA

Cuckoo Sandbox

network Security6

Nessus

OpenVAS

Snort

pfSense

TCPdump

Aircrack-ng

forensics And Incident Response6

Volatility

Autopsy

SANS SIFT

The Sleuth Kit

FTK Imager

Rekall

siem And Logging5

Splunk Enterprise

Elastic Stack (ELK)

QRadar

Wazuh

Graylog

cloud And Container Security6

AWS Security Hub

Azure Sentinel

Falco

Twistlock (Prisma Cloud)

Docker Bench

Kube-bench

development And I D E5

Visual Studio Code

PyCharm Professional

IntelliJ IDEA

Sublime Text

Vim/Neovim

infrastructure And Orchestration5

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Ansible

Proxmox