Nick Harris provides his contact information and summarizes some of his practical education in cybersecurity and digital forensics. This includes performing password attacks using John the Ripper on Kali Linux, penetration testing using Metasploit to obtain credentials for a Windows 2003 server, and vulnerability testing using tools like Nmap. He also conducted email header analysis, file recovery from forensic images, network administration in a Windows Server 2016 environment, and network security configuration including working with firewalls, VPNs, and identity management. Rose State College's cybersecurity program where he studied was recognized by NSA, DHS, NSF, and the state of Oklahoma.

1. NickHarris – 405-863-3459 – nicholasharrisx91@gmail.com
Some specific examples of my practical education:
Password Attacks – Brute force Dictionary Attack against a digest. Utilizing ‘John the Ripper’
on Kali Linux (running on my PC using a VM), we were required to perform a brute force attack
on captured hash digest using a wordlist in order to obtain the required passwords. In order to
complete this project in a timely fashion, we were required to alter the syntax configuration text
file for JTR in order to run the program efficiently to obtain the desired results (i.e. rules for
overstrike, substitution, insertion, overstrike, rotate, etc.). This was a significant constraint,
because the sheer number of actions the program would be required to run (if only using the
default/all config settings) would take months (even when utilizing 10+ cores)– and we were
only given a week to complete the project.
Penetration Testing – Utilizing Metasploit to crack a Windows server. For this project we were
provided with an VM image of a Windows 2003 server and were required to obtain the
credentials for the administrator account of this server by utilizing Metasploit on another VM
running Kali Linux. In order to for the VM’s to communicate, we were required to configure the
VNIC/network settings for each machine so that they appeared on the same network. Once the
Metasploit payload was identified (that worked upon an existing vulnerability in the Windows
2003 server image), a command shell was opened into the server machine which allowed for the
dumping of the servers TCP Hash table. A brute force attack was then preformed on the captured
hash table in order to obtain the login credentials for the Admin (and all other accounts) present
on the Server 2003 machine. Once this was complete administrative access to the server machine
was obtained.
Vulnerability Testing – Enumeration via Nmap and other Kali tools. Given specific target
networks, we were required to identify vulnerabilities present on the network as well as other
information that could be gained by passive enumeration and foot-printing. This involved using
commands like nbtstat and netstat to obtain NetBIOS information on the target device. We also
were required to run port scans and ping sweeps on the target networks using various tools
(Nessus, OpenVAS, Nmap) to conduct various TCP scans (SYN, XMAS, NULL, Connect) in
order to obtain specific information about the target network.
Email Header analysis – Utilizing information found within an email header to verify the
integrity/authenticity of a message. For this project we were required to understand different data
points found within email headers (i.e. domain/secondary domain, ip addresses, host names,
delivery times, CIDR/ARN information, etc.) and then utilize this data to obtain specific
information about the emails source and path of delivery. Various network tools (nslookup) and
external websites (i.e. whois.com) were employed to accomplish this.
Digital Forensics – File Recovery/image analysis. I completed multiple Forensics projects
utilizing various tools (Encase, FTK, Access Data, Hex Workshop) to examine bit stream images
captured from target devices. One project involved the reconstruction of deleted files via hex
reconstruction of the specific file headers. To complete this, we had to identify common file hex
signatures (docx, pdf, jpg, etc.) via FTK & Hex Workshop and then find these headers within the
deleted sectors/clusters within the image. Once found, the individual files were reconstructed and

2. NickHarris – 405-863-3459 – nicholasharrisx91@gmail.com
recovered from the image. Another project involved examining the processes within the volatile
data on a server image to determine what type of the attack the device had experienced (for
instance the agents responsible for a SYN Flood attack – i.e. backdoor.exe). Another project
involved the use of Encase to obtain specific information from deleted emails contained within
an image of a mobile iOS cloud storage account.
Network Administration – Extensive work with Windows Server 2016 in a simulated Enterprise
environment. Activities included working with: Active Directory, Domain access control
(permissions, ACL’s, etc.) , nested virtualization, checkpoints, Powershell/Powershell direct
operations and command line management, Hyper-V, Storage Replica, Windows Containers,
server migration, clean installation of Server 2016, Server Core/Nano Server operations, Server
2016 license models, features installation, image capture, storage configurations (i.e. HA –
RAID), disk pooling, fault tolerance (failover clusters, live migration, etc.), storage replica,
tiered storage, CSV’s, FIM, resource metering, Quorum model configuration, WSUS, data
collector sets, Shadow Copies, Docker, driver management, etc.
Network Security – Network security configuration and management within a simulated
enterprise environment. I completed multiple projects dealing with common network security
operations, primarily within a Windows Server 2016 environment. This involved digital
certificate creation and management, Key escrow, SSL/TLS operations, IPSec, DNS security,
Database Security (i.e. SQL injection mitigation), software tracking/approval/validation, DLP,
NAC, VPN management/config/policies, VLAN config, IDS/IPS config and operations (ACLs,
port security, device config, etc.), DMZ config, SDN/VDI management, Secure DevOPS, GPS
tagging, ICS/RTOS security, Firewall configuration and management (signature based, behavior
based, web based, etc.). Identity management (shibboleth, OAuth, SSO’s), AAA, Recertification,
group-based access control. Operations involving the use and understanding of RADIUS, IEEE
802.1x, EAP, SAML, LDAPS, X.500 and X.500 Lite, Kerberos, & TACACS. Projects also
include dealing with account expiration and Orphaned account management. Additionally,
coursework included lectures on Privacy thresholds, conducting simulated Tabletop exercises,
drafting mock ISA’s, MOU’s, SLA’s, working with compensating controls, Scalability models,
and understanding Social media network policies and AUP’s.
[Disclaimer:This is not meant to provide a fully comprehensive account of my practical education,
merely a varied sample of completed projects.]
Rose State College’s Cybersecurity Program has been selected as a “National Center of Academic
Excellence” by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security - Chosen by the
National Science Foundation for cybersecurity training - Designated as a Cyber Patriot Center of
Excellence by the Air Force Association - Honored by the State of Oklahoma for its national prominence
in cybersecurity; Rose State College has also been approved as a certifying authority to offer the Federal
Committee on National Security Systems (NSTISSI/CNSS) National Certificates 4012, 4013, and 4016.1
-Thank you for your time and consideration.
1 https://www.rose.edu/content/academics/academic-divisions/business-information-technology/cyber-
securitydigital-forensics/

3. NickHarris – 405-863-3459 – nicholasharrisx91@gmail.com