Intro
I'm Bill Benson, a network security engineer based in Wrexham, UK. I have hands-on experience deploying and managing enterprise Sophos and Fortinet environments across 10+ client networks in financial services, oil and gas, and telecoms sectors. I hold Sophos Firewall and Endpoint engineering certifications alongside CompTIA Security+ and ISC2 CC.
I completed an MSc in Cybersecurity at Wrexham University in April 2026, graduating with Distinction (87.5% dissertation score). My dissertation evaluated ModSecurity WAF rulesets in a Docker-based reverse-proxy testbed, and my coursework also covers ML-based malware detection and web application security testing via PortSwigger Web Security Academy.
I'm currently open to network security, IT support, and junior security roles across the UK, on-site, hybrid, or remote.
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Projects
A selection of projects developed through MSc coursework and independent study. Source code available on my GitHub.
WAF Paranoia Level Evaluation (MSc Dissertation)
Empirical comparison of ModSecurity CRS 3.3.8 at Paranoia Level 1 vs PL2 against structured SQLi and XSS payloads in a Docker-based testbed. Key finding: raising the paranoia level produced zero improvement in detection rate (TPR held at 97.0%) while doubling the false positive rate from 1.0% to 2.0%. All differences were attributable to threshold arithmetic, not additional rule logic. See More | Read Post
Malware Detection with Machine Learning
Compared Linear SVM, LightGBM, and a PyTorch MLP for static PE malware classification on the EMBER 2018 dataset. LightGBM achieved an F1 score of 0.9474 and ROC AUC of 0.9892. Includes robustness testing across two stratified subsets to verify ranking stability. See More | Read Post
Heart Disease Classifier
Binary heart disease prediction using logistic regression, random forest, and XGBoost on the UCI Heart Disease dataset. Evaluated via stratified 5-fold cross-validation with calibration curves, ROC analysis, and McNemar's statistical testing. Built in Python using scikit-learn. See More
Web Application Security Scanner
Python-based scanner that enumerates links and forms on target web applications and tests for reflected XSS vulnerabilities. Built and tested in an isolated lab environment using Metasploitable. See More
Password Breach Checker
Queries the Have I Been Pwned Pwned Passwords API using k-Anonymity to check whether a password has appeared in a known data breach. No plaintext passwords are transmitted at any point. See More
Hacker News Scraper
Python web scraper that extracts top-voted stories from Hacker News and delivers a daily digest by email. Filters by vote threshold and outputs clean, ranked results. See More
This Portfolio Website
Customised HTML5 template with a Python and Flask backend, deployed on Render. See More
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About
Background
I hold a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and an MSc in Cybersecurity with Distinction from Wrexham University, completed April 2026. My professional experience includes network security engineering in Lagos and IT support as part of the Nigerian National Youth Service Corps programme.
Currently
MSc Cybersecurity completed April 2026 with Distinction (87.5% dissertation score). Available immediately for network security, IT support, and junior security roles across the UK. Open to remote and hybrid positions.
Skills
Firewall Engineering (Sophos, Fortinet) | IT Support (1st & 2nd Line) | Active Directory | Network Security | Web Application Testing | Python Scripting | Windows & Linux | Penetration Testing Fundamentals | Endpoint Security | System Patching
Interests
Gaming, basketball, and chess.
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Experience
Network Security Engineer
Jul 2024 - Jan 2025
Casper Technologies Ltd | Lagos, Nigeria
• Deployed and managed Sophos XG/XGS and FortiGate firewall environments across 10+ enterprise client networks in oil and gas, financial services, and telecoms sectors; configured policy rules, NAT, IPS, web filtering, and application control
• Executed XG to XGS firewall migrations using Sophos Migration Assistant, including firmware upgrades to SFOS v21.0, backup and restore with SSMK handling, and post-migration validation
• Delivered Sophos Intercept X Advanced pilot and full rollout via Microsoft Intune; managed TrendMicro to Intercept X migration; configured Sophos Email Protection with Microsoft 365 mail flow rules
• Managed P1-P4 incident response on Motadata ServiceOps ITSM; conducted Sophos SURF health checks interpreting security posture reports covering ATP, ARP poisoning detection, and certificate management
• Authored scopes of work, implementation plans, and technical reports to MD level; delivered cybersecurity awareness training to 200+ staff
Penetration Testing (Self-directed)
Sep 2023 - Jun 2024
Home Labs
• Completed PortSwigger Web Security Academy labs covering SQL injection, XSS, and authentication vulnerabilities
• Built isolated test environments to practise reconnaissance, exploitation, and remediation validation
• Developed Python tooling for vulnerability scanning and password breach checking
IT Support Engineer
Aug 2022 - Jul 2023
Horty Benade Company | Lagos, Nigeria
• Provided first and second-line support across Windows environments, troubleshooting hardware, network connectivity, and Active Directory user issues
• Resolved endpoint security alerts and supported system patching processes
• Documented recurring issues and created resolution guides to improve team response times
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Contact
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