About the Blog: This is my hub for write-ups on cybersecurity competitions, events, and projects. I hope my insights can help others learn along with me.
About Me: Hey, I’m Shaamad. I am an MIS major passionate about Cybersecurity and IT Infrastructure. Currently, I serve as the president of my school’s cybersecurity club, where I act as a Linux instructor, competition advisor, and overall jack-of-all-trades. I also created the central repository we use for competitions, writing the Bash and Python automation scripts while collaborating with our Windows lead, Marcos, on the PowerShell integration
Right now, I am spearheading the build of our Proxmox server to host a custom virtual infrastructure for learning Penetration Testing, Cyber Defense, and SOC operations. I love Linux (specifically Debian), physical music media (vinyl/CDs), skateboarding, and all things technology.
Outside of school, I am active in the local community, engaging with organizations like the South Florida Information Systems Security Association (SFISSA), the Boca Raton 2600 Chapter, and Hack Miami.
If you want to see videos of me explaining penetration testing, cyber defense strategies, or going over competition debriefs, click the YouTube link at the bottom of the site!
Posts
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Building the Club a Proxmox Server: From Bare Metal to Live Competition Ranges
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The CCDC Turnaround: From Last Place to Top 15
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Capturing the Black Badge: HackspaceCon Phone Phreaking CTF
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More Than Flags: Building a Career Pipeline at FAU
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🛡️ Cybersecurity Intern Training Resource Guide (2025)
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Cal Poly Swift KOTH - Write-Up
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Cyber-Tech-Ubuntu-Practice-image-write-up
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🏆 Competition Placements
A running log of the competitions I've placed in.
| Placement | Competition | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Place | HackspaceCon — Phone Phreaking CTF — Black Badge | Spring 2026 |
| 1st Place | FPL Vulnerability Management CTF — BSides South Florida | Spring 2026 |
| 2nd Place | Cal Poly Swift — Purple Team KOTH — King of the Hill — read the write-up | Fall 2025 |
| 2nd Place | SFISSA Hack-The-Flag Advanced CTF | Fall 2025 |
| 5th Place | NCAE CyberGames — Linux admin (SMB & HTTPS) and network admin on a MikroTik router | Spring 2026 |
| 5th Place | UCF Horse Plinko — Mentored a peer team to 3rd Place | Fall 2025 |
| 6th Place | eMerge Americas — DevCom Hackathon — AI / AWS Cowrie honeypot running on Debian 12 | Spring 2026 |
| 7th / 28 | Cal Poly Mock CCDC — Linux & Windows sysadmin | Spring 2026 |
| 10th / 13 | UBlockdown — Linux sysadmin & threat hunting — identified a C2 callback masquerading as a systemd service | Spring 2026 |
| 15th / 45 | SECCDC Qualifiers — 7th in Incident Response | Spring 2026 |
| 77 / 186 | eCitadel — System hardening & defense with injects — I ran Linux hardening and the business writing | Summer 2025 |