Experience
Professional
Security Analyst - Intigriti
December 2020 - PresentAt Europe's #1 ethical hacking and bug bounty platform, I help to ensure all security vulnerabilities that get submitted to our platform are of excellent quality. This way, researchers get the attention and assistance they deserve and companies get the most value possible for their investment.
Owner and Full Stack Developer at CKX
June 2016 - PresentI've been creating and maintaining web applications for both businesses and individuals since 2016. Side activities include creating other [non-web] software, designing visuals and giving IT related advice.
Later, this turned into a full brand as CKX, where I provide an attractive all-in-one package for SMEs to reach customers online with a professional website and powerful copy. The latter is provided by my partner Marlies Hendrickx at Woordevol.
Organiser - UHCTF
Volunteer September 2019 - February 2022Organising a Cyber Security competition for UHasselt (computer science) students (UHCTF). Creating multiple challenges, coordinating partnerships and accommodation. A Capture The Flag (or CTF) challenges its participants to find hidden information in various digital scenarios.
Co-founder - Headr
August 2018 - October 2020After working freelance for a while, three friends (fellow students) and I decided to combine our skills, so we founded Headr. Together we strove to automate and digitise business processes of small to medium businesses. That's why we built digital tools to alleviate administrative and other boring tasks. Using the client's input and our creative and technical experience, we proposed a solution tailored to the client.
Headr is still going strong, but I am no longer involved since October 2020, when I decided I wanted to focus on my cyber security skills first.
Organiser - TEDxUHasselt
Volunteer April 2016 - April 2020After four years of actively organising the yearly TEDxUHasselt event, I can proudly look back on many successful editions. A team of about 10 students and PhD (volunteers) strive to bring an amazing event year after year. I would love to highlight the edition where I was the lead organiser: TEDxUHasselt 2018, Bright Ideas. Mainly screening and booking potential ideas and speakers for our TEDx stage, as well as making sure their stay was as perfect as could be. Side tasks included arranging catering, workshops, startup showcases and more for an audience of upwards of 700 people.
Internship - The Security Factory
Summer 2019At The Security Factory (tSF), I did a spontaneous internship where I learned a lot during the introductory day of one-on-one coaching, and applied my existing skills with my newly gathered techniques to assist the pentest team for multiple real-world projects. Firstly, we attacked and reported on the full networking infrastructure of a client. Afterwards, we got to work on a web platform. Lastly, we tried to find and report any security flaws in a mobile application.
Programming Coach - CoderDojo
Volunteer March 2017 - June 2018At most once a month I spent my time as a coach at CoderDojo Hasselt as volunteer. CoderDojo organises workshops to teach children and teenagers the basics of computational thinking. At CoderDojo Hasselt, we offer Scratch, Lego Mindstorms and Minecraft (redstone and mods). As of March 2018, we also started teaching textual programming with Python.
Head of Organisation - Spark Your Idea
January 2018 - April 2018Head of Organisation for Spark Your Idea, an event to promote student entrepreneurship and provide practical tips and tricks to students considering a career as entrepreneur. More information and photos on the event's website.
IT-Department - Greenyard Prepared
Summer 2017On the IT department of Greenyard Prepared, I joined the system admin group for the summer. This group takes care of all IT infrastructure. With tasks ranging from maintaining and repairing hardware, managing the network and servers, providing support for other employees and solving various problems, everyone was busy at all times. My tasks evolved from smaller support cases to tackling entire cases by myself. Working with this very specialised company has taught me the value of optimising workflows.
Factory worker - Greenyard Prepared
Summers 2015 - 2016The work at Greenyard Prepared, formerly known as Noliko, alternated between quality checks at a belt, pouring (managing speed and amount of products on the belt), controlling the depalletiser (machine) and solving problems with bad packaging. This much variation in my work obliged me to pick up new skills extremely fast. With the variation in work, came variation in hours: I worked night shifts, regular hours and alternating day shifts.
Camera assistant - Tim Vervoort
April 2016 - April 2016Helping to record a dance show, a theatre... Without any experience with professional camera equipment, I went on to help a friend who was in an emergency situation and suddenly short staffed. I gained a small knowledge of (handling) cameras, do-s and don't-s for lighting, recording angles... But most importantly: satisfied clients and a friend back on track.
Dishwasher - Den Eik
Summer 2014Long hours, working fast without sacrificing quality (during rush hours) and preparing as well as I could during calm periods. Those are the things that my experience at Den Eik has taught me.
Prizes & Awards
English Certification β C2 Proficient
Awarded by EF Standard English Test (EF SET) March 2022A C2 level of English is essentially a native level. It allows for reading and writing of any type on any subject, nuanced expression of emotions and opinions, and active participation in any academic or professional setting.
Click here to view the certificate.
Finalist (#8) at European Cyber Security Challenge 2021
Awarded by ENISA October 2021Finished in 8th place with our team ("Belgian Red Daemons") at the European Cyber Security Challenge 2021 in Prague, an initiative by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). This is a yearly CTF where 10 of the top young offensive cybersecurity experts of many European countries compete.
The competition involved a few parts:
- One escape room
- Two days of CTF challenges
- Three cooperative challenges with the International Team (one member of each competing country work together, I was chosen for two of these)
More info on news.belgium.com
Winner (#1) of Cyber Security Challenge Belgium 2021
Awarded by NVISO and Toreon March 2021Earned first place (#1) at the Cyber Security Challenge Belgium, a Belgian CTF competition with 225+ participating teams.
Battled in the following rounds
(and were able to maintain the top spot on the leaderboard throughout all of them):
- Online qualifiers (CTF) [225+ teams]
- Pre-finals (Security Puzzles) [60 teams]
- Finals day 1 (Harder CTF) [24 teams]
- Finals day 2 (Expert Challenges) [12 teams]
Team "π§πͺ π Fun With Flags β³ π³π΅": Jorrit Gerets, Sander Smets, Robbe Van Roey and me
Finalist (#6) at Cyber Security Challenge Belgium 2020
Awarded by NVISO and Toreon October 2020Finished on 6th place with our team at the Cyber Security Challenge Belgium, a Belgian CTF competition with 200+ participating teams. The finals were postponed because of the coronavirus, and have ultimately been held online.
Battled in the following rounds:
- Online qualifiers (CTF) [200+ teams]
- Finals day 1 (Harder CTF) [16 teams]
- Finals day 2 (Sponsor Challenges) [12 teams]
Team "Megabite": Isaac Meers, Bas Van Assche, Dries Van Bael and me
PMI Student Project Management Award 2019
Awarded by PMI Belgium October 2019For my role as Lead Organiser of TEDxUHasselt 2019, I was honoured to receive a Project Management award from PMI Belgium. A huge thank you to co-lead organisers Tim Vervoort and Ward Habraken, and to Frank Turly for inviting me on stage of the Project Management Fair 2019 to receive the award.
Winner UHasselt CTF 2019
May 2019First place in the second edition of UHasselt CTF, a cyber security contest for students and PhDs. With most points by a fair margin, we beat all teams (including a team of PhD students exclusively).
Team "Megabite": Isaac Meers, Bas Van Assche, Jorrit Gerets and me
Finalist (#6) at Cyber Security Challenge Belgium 2019
Awarded by NVISO March 2019Finished on 6th place with our team at the Cyber Security Challenge Belgium, a Belgian CTF competition with 200+ participating teams.
Battled in the following rounds:
- Online qualifiers (CTF) [200+ teams]
- Pre-finals (Security related puzzles) [42 teams]
- Pre-finals (Harder CTF) [16 teams]
- Finals (Sponsor Challenges) [12 teams]
- Finals (Hardest CTF) [12 teams]
Team "Megabite": Isaac Meers, Bas Van Assche, Dries Van Bael and me
Winner UHasselt CTF 2018
May 2018Competed in Hasselt University's very own CTF (Cyber Security contest) as a (then) bachelor student. Our team won not only in our category (3rd year of bachelor) but also won the entire competition, thus even beating master students who were actively following courses in networking and security.
Team "Megabite": Isaac Meers, Bas Van Assche, Dries Van Bael and me
Winner Solar Stad Award 2018
Awarded by city of Hasselt & city of Genk May 2018Conceptualised an innovating solution to use solar energy in a growing city environment. It involved creating windows blinds with highly efficient, bendable solar panels to use in modern buildings to make their rooms energy neutral. Worked in a team with Isaac Meers. Our idea was picked as the winner among dozens of entries by a jury consisting of PhD in green energy, head of city, professor in physics, designer (for our poster).
Winner Businessgame Deloitte (by Junior Consulting) 2018
Awarded by Deloitte & Junior Consulting April 2018With an insane time constraint of only one hour, we thought of solutions to problems this business case proposed. Due to our efficient work, diverse view and crystal clear pitch we were able to convince the jury (Deloitte) that our approach was the best one. That's how we got first place at the business game, beating nine other teams.
Team: Noah Crauwels, Yannick Simons, Dimi Schepers and me.
Topic: Financial sustainability, innovating features and growing the user-base of an upcoming app with accessibility features for wheelchair users.
Education
Master in Computer Science - Hasselt University
Distinction (Cum Laude) September 2018 - September 2021I graduated the masterβs programme Computer Science at Hasselt University. In this academic setting, I chose to specialise in Networking and Security. Here, I learnt the ins and outs of building secure environments on the web, as well as to create robust and safe infrastructure to support those platforms. I also took courses in Big Data, Engineering Interactive systems, and Artificial Intelligence.
Academic Bachelor Computer Science - Hasselt University
Distinction (Cum Laude) September 2015 - September 2019I enjoyed my academic bachelor's education for Computer Science at Hasselt University. Here, I gathered knowledge and skills in many different aspects of computer science. The courses in the programme are all in one of three categories: programming & programming paradigms, math & logic, and (introductions to) specific fields in computer science (graphics, networking...). Gaining management skills was also embedded in the courses. Choosing this field was easy for me, as I have been passionate about computers and the technology around it for as long as I can remember.
Maths & Science β Sint-Augustinusinstituut Bree
September 2011 - June 2015I learnt to think like a scientist: mathematically and critically. That is the most important skill that I still take with me from having this science education from my 3rd to 6th year in high school at Sint-Augustinusinstituut in Bree (Limburg, Belgium).
Latin β Heilig Hartinstituut Bree
September 2009 - June 2011(Pre-) Primary school - De Vuurvogel Bree
September 2000 - June 2009