Welcome to the Team, Ethan
Meet Ethan
We are delighted to welcome Ethan to the team as he begins his workplace placement with us. In his introductory blog, he shares more about himself, why he chose this placement, and what he hopes to learn and achieve during his time with the team.
Introduction
“Hello, my name is Ethan, and I am an undergraduate Computer Science student at the University of Sheffield, currently undertaking a summer placement at Factory Internet.
My degree involves working on a range of projects, learning different programming languages, and developing my understanding of computer science and software engineering. These projects have included building a web service for a 3D-modelling request platform, creating a neural-network-based word search solver, and programming a robot using WSL and ROS 2 to explore an area autonomously and photograph specific objects.
Growing Interest in Cybersecurity
Although cyber security has not been a major focus of these projects, it has always been an interest of mine. In my own time, I built a honeypot using Cloudflare Workers to track and log IP addresses attempting to access my domain. This allowed me to see how frequently bots scan websites for sensitive files, login pages, and vulnerable URL paths.
My interest in cybersecurity grew significantly while undertaking temporary call centre work following a major data breach. The experience was eye-opening, highlighting the serious human consequences of data-security failures and the importance of protecting sensitive information.
It was one of the main reasons I wanted to gain practical experience in cyber security and encouraged me to approach Factory Internet.
Learning at Factory Internet
Since starting my placement, I have learned how to use tools including Elastic and Tenable, as well as several built-in Windows utilities.
My main focus has been Elastic, where I have used Discover to investigate security data, built and tested detection rules, and implemented integrations to collect additional information.
The Elastic–Tenable Project
One of my main projects has involved the Elastic–Tenable integration, which brings vulnerability data from Tenable into Elastic.
I created a dashboard showing the number and severity of vulnerabilities, whether they are exploitable, and which hosts are affected. This allows the team to view important information clearly in Elastic rather than searching through Tenable separately.
I also created a rule that alerts the team whenever a new High or Critical vulnerability is detected, allowing it to be investigated quickly.
Looking Ahead
Even after only two weeks at Factory Internet, I feel that I would return to university in a much stronger position. I have gained practical experience with real security tools and data, and I am looking forward to continuing to learn from the team and developing my cyber security knowledge further.”
Look out for Ethan’s end-of-placement blog to follow his journey!
