Intro
I'm Bill Benson, an IT and network security professional based in Wrexham, UK. My background spans firewall engineering, IT support, and security tooling development in Python. I have hands-on experience configuring Sophos and Fortinet environments across 15+ client networks and delivering first and second-line IT support.
I recently completed an MSc in Cybersecurity at Wrexham University, with my dissertation focused on evaluating ModSecurity WAF rulesets against web application attacks. I hold CompTIA Security+ and ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity credentials, and I have been building on my experience through coursework in machine learning for security applications and web application testing via PortSwigger Web Security Academy.
I'm currently open to IT support, network, and junior security roles across the UK, on-site, hybrid, or remote.
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
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
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
About
Background
I hold a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and an MSc in Cybersecurity from Wrexham University. My professional experience includes network security engineering in Lagos and IT support as part of the Nigerian National Youth Service Corps programme.
Currently
MSc completed April 2026. Available immediately for IT support, network, 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.
Experience
Network Security Engineer
Jul 2024 - Jan 2025
Casper Technologies Ltd | Lagos, Nigeria
• Configured and maintained Sophos and Fortinet firewall environments across 15+ client networks, including policy rules, NAT, and web filtering
• Resolved misconfigurations through rule-based review and troubleshooting to reduce exposure
• Supported IPsec VPN deployments and delivered cyber security awareness training for 200+ staff, contributing to a 40% reduction in phishing susceptibility
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
Contact