Writing on networks, security, and a career in IT

2026

• Officially in ITFeb 27

  Hey everyone! It has been a while since my last blog post. A lot has happened. Where I left off, I was finishing up my contract with a school system where I provided phone support to hundreds of…

2024

• IT Help Desk: Closing The 1st ChapterSep 30

  As my first help desk job comes to a close, I wanted to highlight a lot of the valuable perspective I gained. How can we help others?

• IT Help Desk - Past The RushAug 29

  The large thing I've gained from this employment is a new perspective of time. What is worth your time?

• IT Help Desk - Peak SeasonAug 14

  Through the busiest times of the year, here are my insights, so that you can form a better approach to maximize efficiency and customer care.

• IT Help Desk - Getting ComfortableAug 11

  I want to share some experiences after about being a month into the role, and especially highlight some of the special situations I've experienced throughout talking to about three or four hundred different customers now.

• IT Help Desk – 2nd Week After TrainingAug 2

  Thank you for taking a peek at the most recent update with my IT Help Desk job. It's been going very well and I've been averaging about 20 calls a day.

• IT Help Desk - No More Training WheelsJul 24

  This is a post going over the first week of my new help desk job without the training wheels! I hope this helps you while going into similar roles!

• IT Help Desk - My Second Week of TrainingJul 20

  This is a another additional post following up my training experience with my new help desk job.

• Global Outages from Crowdstrike Blue ScreenJul 19

  Global Crowdstrike outage (Blue screen of death) impacting hundreds of companies..

• 16-bit Hash Collisions, it's raining cats and dogsJul 15

  When you set a password in excel, that password isn't encrypted. This means that, you can see it somewhere in the system.

• WAZUH Home Lab Project (Security Information Event Manager)Jul 13

  I had experimented in the past few months with implementing a security information event manager into my own environment.

• IT Help Desk - My First Week of TrainingJul 12

  Hello all! This post is is an overview of the general training experience I've had in my new IT role. This blog post will serve as a focal point for curious job seekers.

• Patience + Planning = GainJul 11

  Today's post is about how sometimes waiting to make a big purchase can work to your benefit, perhaps finding a cheaper solution in a place you would have never expected.

• Foot In The Door: Welcome to IT, DavidJul 10

  I’ve landed a role in IT. It’s been a long time in the making, and this marks a pivotal moment in my career.

• Huge project update: TaskRunway.com, ReportName.com, SpotScam.com, and moreMay 5

  David talks about some of his latest projects, including those of which help you report cybercrime, learn about scams, or access everyday tools.

• Home IT Support Ticketing System Project: Revisited with UVDesk / Zammad Docker Containers and Reddit API IntegrationMar 1

  This is a continuation post outlining my steps taken in the ongoing deployment of a home IT Help Desk ticketing solution with Docker and the Reddit API.

• Did you get a weird email after applying for a job on LinkedIn? It might be a scam.Feb 16

  Are you looking for new jobs? Scammers are using LinkedIn's Easy-Apply feature to steal your information. This post highlights all the red flags.

• Configuring OpenVPN, PfSense, FreeRADIUS Authentication, Dynamic DNS, and TOTP Password + Pin CredentialsJan 18

  Today's post is all about finding flexibility between hopping between all your favorite network devices, even when you're out and about. Or, maybe you're a small business and have ambitions to set up a site to site VPN so your employees can authenticate and access local resources. This post is a little more on the technical side of things but I will find ways to entertain, no matter your skill level or what field you work in. I hope this is insightful to you in some way!

• Server Recovery: Hostname Issue (Proxmox), empty /etc/pve directory, resilience, the solution, and lessons learnedJan 17

  Have you been encountering issues with Proxmox where your /etc/pve file system is empty? Not to panic, I had a similar issue. Check out this post.

• Tailscale VPN Firewall Issue: A lesson on troubleshootingJan 16

  This is a post all about my journey through solving a peculiar problem I encountered while trying to ping some devices in my network.

• Docker Container Deployments: How I've been refining my homelabJan 14

  This is a post entailing some updates I made to my network regarding adding a notification server, WHOIS lookup tool, server uptime monitoring, CloudFlare tunneling, Nginx Proxy Manager, and more.

• Alerting Scam Victims with Self-Hosted Email (Mailcow)Jan 13

  How I deployed self-hosted email, with a Virtual Private Server (VPS) to alert scam victims of a fake Norton Security refund scam.

2023

• Exploring the beautiful world of VoIP with a Cisco 8800 IP PhoneOct 29

  A lesson on challenge, resilience, and character growth. Introduction Hello everyone! Today's post is everything in-depth as to my recent fascinations with Voice-Over-IP, or VoIP. This is in…

• Audio and Networking - When Passions Collide, VBAN Automatic Audio DetectionOct 19

  Audio and Networking - When Passions Collide A Brief Update Hello! It's been a few months since my last post, but I've been plenty busy with lots of projects. From working on harnessing my tools that…

• Home IT Support Project, Reddit Makeshift Support Homelab w/ ticketing systemJul 27

  Simulating a ticketing system from home, while helping real people! The Plan Greetings everyone, I hope you are all having a lovely day. I am writing on this blog yet again to update you on my…

• I'm Learning Stenography, from a 160 WPM QWERTY typistJul 27

  Unlocking a new method of typing? Hello everyone, I hope you're doing well today. I have been fascinated by keyboarding at miraculous speeds, so much so that I had quickly been addicted to typing…

• Insider Threat Located! Custom Geolocation IP Python scripting to catch insider threatsJul 27

  How a spontaneous tool caught an insider threat The Backstory Hello again, I hope you are having a lovely day. I was chatting in a study group that I'm a part of one night, and I was delighted to…

• Google's .zip TLD and Information Security Concerns, Proof of Concept & AwarenessMay 21

  Empowering Users, Raising Awareness, and Mitigating Risks Google's .zip TLD and Information Security Concerns I'm sure you've heard about the recent discussions surrounding Google's release of the…

• Cyber Kill Chain - TryHackMe Write-Up and CommentaryMay 17

  TryHackMe Room Write-Up This is a write-up on the Cyber Kill Chain Room for TryHackMe. We will walk through what it is, why it's important, and a bit about its origin…

• My SIEM Experience | A directory of home-deployed SIEM labs (In Progress)May 14

  Compilation of SIEM labs | Poor Man's SIEM (Event Viewer), LimaCharlie, ELK, Graylog, and more… This post will outline my experience that I've had while experimenting with SIEM deployment and log…

• CACTUS Ransomware? New Ransomware with camoflauging and anti-virus evasionMay 12

  Ransomware That Encrypts Itself Background There's new ransomware that has been identified in a live environment since March 2023. The ransomware is unique in that the moving parts (binary) of the…

• Let's Talk CCNA, Cisco Certification Goals and Career Expectations for Q3/4 2023 into Q2 2024May 12

  Studying for the Cisco Certified Network Associate exam Why I'm Getting The CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) Certification I decided to study for the CCNA because I ultimately started part of…

• pfSense Firewall Project, Developing A Secure Home Environment and Documenting New TechnologiesMay 12

  Overcoming Challenges and Achieving Success The Ambition, The Journey, The Struggles, and The Outcome I recently undertook the deployment of a pfSense firewall solution in my home network. Although…

• LinkedIn Job Scam, Detecting Scammers who use Job Boards as a vector for email harvesting and phishing campaignsMay 11

  Too good to be true? It probably is. An email interview? REALLY? So, I was in the midst of applying for jobs here and there, and I'm sure everyone loves to use the LinkedIn easy-apply feature…

2022

• Analyzing Malicious Traffic, A lab on repackaging executable files and forming a conclusion on malicious network dataMar 15

  In this blog post, we analyze malicious network traffic and try to put together a picture of what happened. Feel free to follow along!

• Why I started DavidInfosec.comMar 12

  Hello World. This is the beginning of a blog focused around information security. I had the idea to start it after dabbling with homelabs and other miscellaneous projects. I figured, with all things…