My name is Tom. I’m a father, husband, and grandfather. After I retired from the Army, I worked as a penetration tester for a few years before I started gravitating more towards teaching.

I’m the owner and Chief Learning Officer (🙄🤣) at Eagle Rising Information Security. My goal is to provide foundational information security content in an easy to understand way, and in a manner that is accessible to everyone regardless of their current experience level.

Away from the computer, I enjoy hiking, playing with our pets, and watching my kids’ sports games.

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My Philosophy

• Cybersecurity can be learned. Nobody is born just knowing any of this. If the best in the field could do it, so can we. 

• Don’t feel the need to fit yourself into someone else’s learning style. Find what works for YOU and stick with it! 

• Try to get 1% better every day and compare your skills today against your skills yesterday. Comparing yourself against others robs us of the joy of learning.

• Don’t dwell on past mistakes and don’t stress about what you’ll do in the future. Just be present and focus on the now.