About

Howdy, I’m Shawn Duong – someone who enjoys tinkering with systems and learning new things.

Originally born in Việt Nam, my roots took hold in Southern California and grew in the California Central Valley. As far as hackers go, I’m nothing particularly extraordinary; I could say I believe in a world empowered by technology for social good, but the truth is simpler: I’m just driven by an insatiable curiosity.

I primarily specialize in digital forensics, radio frequency, and computer networks, though I have varying degrees of expertise in other disciplines as well thanks to the infinite patience of my CTF team: IrisSec. Lately, I’ve also taken an interest in hardware and embedded systems security.

I’m currently working as an information security analyst for my alma mater, the University of California at Merced, to secure our university and students against cyber-risk, hunt down threats and threat actors, and stop cybercriminals in their tracks. After hours, I’m usually making and breaking stuff on my workbench, testing ideas out in my lab, or developing something new at my desk. If my weekends aren’t spent doing CTFs with my friends at IrisSec, it’s spent developing and testing new technologies with my team at Badger.

Obviously, I’m not a one-dimensional character. I enjoy longboarding, bicycling, journaling, photography, n-scale modeling, piano, and so much more – technology just happened to be the most well-known facet of my public identity, likely because that’s the facet where I have the opportunity to create value for others in addition to for myself.

Well, that’s a bit more about me! Now I’m not a stranger to you, but you’re still a stranger to me – if you’d like to get in contact then please feel welcome to reach out to me via the “Contact” section. Even if it’s just to drop in and say hello, I do read and respond to every message.

Until then, happy hacking!