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Andrew Lyons

Junior Penetration Tester & Security Researcher | Aspiring Adversary Emulations Operator

About Me

I'm a 17-year-old with a background in offensive security that started at 10 years old. Throughout these years, I've actively participated in Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions, ranking in the top 10%. To further develop this interest, I've attended Cybersecurity conferences such as BSides.

I took an internship at an Offensive Weapons Development, Research and Education company at the age of 14, contributing to projects and programs at this company for over 2 years. I was also received education from the Metropolitan Police's Cyber Crime Unit (CCU). Understanding the core fundamentals of programming as well as ethical hacking, I aspire to become an Adversary Emulations Operator

Education & Certifications

Extended Diploma in Webapp, Mobile App, & Game Development

Uxbridge College, 2023-2024

Skills & Expertise

Technical Skills

  • Penetration Testing
  • Windows/Linux Exploitation
  • Privilege Escalation
  • Digital Forensics
  • Malware Analysis
  • Network Engineering
  • C2 Infrastructure Development
  • Virtual Environment Setup
  • Security Research

Professional Experience

Junior Penetration Tester

Mar 2025 - Present

Cisco

  • Engaged in enumerating and exploiting both Active Directory & Linux infrastructure, specifically covering bases such as Privilege Escalation, Pivoting, maintaining persistence and defense evasion
  • Gained exposure to malware analysis and threat intelligence, including risk assessment and correlating attack data with real-world TTPs using the MITRE ATT&CK framework
  • Developed a comprehensive understanding of Wireshark through analysing PCAP files to identify malicious activity and extract key indicators of compromise (IOCs)
  • Learned a variety of techniques for filtering, pattern matching, and protocol analysis to efficiently evaluate network traffic
  • Designed, built, and configured Lab Environments to replicate enterprise-level Active Directory and Linux Systems
  • Mentored in Red Team Operations, developed hands-on experience with offensive security methodologies

Junior Software Analyst

Jan 2025 - Mar 2025

Cisco

  • Team Lead for the development of Network Engineering tools over the Webex platform
  • Gained hands-on experience fulfilling the responsibilities of a Network Engineer, leading the installation and setup of WANs
  • Shadowed the troubleshooting process for enterprise networks utilising Cisco Meraki Infrastructure
  • Learned Presales Consulting skills by proposing Cisco infrastructure and solutions to clients

Security Researcher

Feb 2022 - Dec 2024

Cosmodium CyberSecurity

  • Participated in a high-ranking CTF team, consistently placing in the top 2-5% throughout CTFs
  • Conducted bug bounty research, documenting vulnerabilities on the company site
  • Performed web application penetration tests
  • Developed security tools for both red and blue team operations
  • Wrote Blogs/Guides on Red Team topics such as Open-Source Intelligence and OPSEC