Senior Information Security Engineer with 15+ years securing federal platforms. I spent last Saturday at 2 AM debugging a K3s cluster in my homelab – and loved every minute of it. Here, I share what works, what spectacularly fails, and the lessons I've learned from breaking things (legally, of course) since 2010.
"A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm."
That nerdy kid in 1995 devouring Foundation and Empire under the covers with a flashlight? Yeah, that was me. Now I'm helping secure a FedRAMP Moderate platform while running local LLMs on my RTX 3090 to explore AI security. I'm implementing the actual controls to keep AI systems safe – thinking about the same questions Asimov posed, just with more YAML files, threat models, and 3 AM security patches than I expected. Some dreams do come true.
Security insights, AI experiments, homelab adventures, and lessons from the field.
Learn to build and secure a production-grade private cloud using Proxmox VE. Covers network segmentation, backup strategies, security hardening, and resource management with real homelab implementation lessons.
Eight security layers that stopped real attacks in homelab testing: minimal base images, user namespaces, seccomp profiles, network segmentation, and more. Defense-in-depth without Kubernetes overhead.
Real-world guide to monitoring security events in your homelab. Covers Prometheus configuration, Grafana dashboards, and alerting rules for threat detection.
Areas of expertise and interests
Implementing Zero-Trust architectures for federal systems. I've learned that microsegmentation isn't just theory – it's what stops lateral movement when something gets through.
Started with a $50 Raspberry Pi in 2015, now running enterprise gear in my basement. I've broken it 47 times and learned something valuable every single time.
Running local LLMs for security research and AI safety experiments. That childhood obsession with Asimov's Three Laws evolved into real work on AI alignment and building systems that actually follow their rules.
Writing 57+ blog posts about security, AI safety, and homelab experiments. My most popular posts openly admit "here's what I broke and what I learned" because vulnerability makes better content than polish.
Got a security question? Building your first homelab and wondering if you really need that 10Gbe switch? Debating if that CVSS 7.2 vulnerability is worth an emergency patch at 10 PM? (Spoiler: it probably is – I've learned this the hard way.) Let's chat. I love talking shop with fellow security enthusiasts, sharing war stories, and helping others avoid the mistakes I've made.