Hi, I'm Derek.
I'm a red team operator, offensive security engineer, and occasional writer. I break into things for a living at a Tier 1 global investment bank, build custom offensive tooling in Python, Go, and PowerShell, and blog here about security, automation, and the craft of ethical hacking.
Recent posts
Notes on offensive security, red teaming, tooling, automation, and the occasional tangent.
Abusing MSBuild for Defense Evasion: A Detection Engineering Playbook
MSBuild is a trusted Microsoft binary that ships with every Windows installation — and it's a favorite tool for adversaries looking to execute arbitrary code…
Building a Custom C2 Channel Over DNS: Lessons from the Lab
Off-the-shelf C2 frameworks are powerful, but they come with known signatures. When you need to blend into normal network traffic, building your own channel is…
Using LLMs to Accelerate Recon: What Works, What Doesn't
I integrated GPT-4 into our red team reconnaissance and vulnerability triage workflow and cut manual effort by roughly 30%. Here's exactly how I did it, what…
Running 15 Purple Team Tests a Month: My Framework
Purple teaming at scale requires structure. When you're running roughly 15 tests per month across a large enterprise, you can't afford to wing it — but you also…
From PwC Auditor to Red Team Operator: A Non-Linear Career Path
People ask me all the time how I went from auditing pension funds at PwC to breaking into enterprise networks for a living. The honest answer is: slowly, and…
Smart Contract Auditing for Red Teamers: Where to Start
The overlap between offensive security and smart contract auditing is bigger than you think. If you can find vulnerabilities in web applications and APIs, you…
A bit about Derek
I'm a red team analyst at BNP Paribas CIB, where I simulate advanced persistent threats against the infrastructure of a global investment bank. My days involve breaking Active Directory environments, writing custom offensive tools, running phishing campaigns, and collaborating with the blue team to make sure they can actually catch what I throw at them.
Before offensive security, I spent 8+ years in software engineering — leading an engineering team at Metric Theory, building API integrations for 10+ ad platforms, and managing $157MM+ in client spend. That engineering background isn't just backstory; it's what lets me build my own C2 infrastructure and think like a developer when I'm looking for ways in.
I started my career as an auditor at PwC and hold a CPA alongside my OSCP+, CISSP, and CPTS. Read more →