This Cybersecurity Hall of Fame has been established to honor FSU students who exceed academic expectations in a significant way. It serves as the highest benchmark, and an inspiration for future students. The students nominated here have made distinguished contributions to their own education, by going above and beyond academic requirements profoundly and repeatedly – demonstrating an extreme commitment to learning and expanding their own potential. Each has made their faculty proud. Each can be expected to make a similarly significant contribution to society, while leaving lasting impressions on the people, institutions, and organizations they go on to serve.
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Grant William Arnold
Graduation Date: Spring 2023
Degrees Obtained: BS Information Technology at FSU
Contact Info: grantarnold94@gmail.com
Employer: Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA)
Position: Network Administration Associate
Interesting Info: “Served as Secretary (Fall 2022) and President (Spring 2023) of the Cybersecurity Club where I went through many different projects mainly focusing on DIY penetration testing tools. I was also Captain of the FSU South-Eastern Cyber Defense Competition (SECCDC) Team for SECCDC 2023. When I am not doing work, I like to keep myself busy with different projects usually involving offensive security. My time being involved with FSU Cybersecurity Club has led to a devout love and infatuation with cybersecurity, and I hope to stay involved with the club in the future to continue getting people hooked on cybersecurity”.
Areas of Interest: Offensive Security: DIY/Commercial Pen-Testing Tools, Pen-Testing Automation
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Annie Cynthia Thomas
Graduation Date: Spring 2022
Degrees Obtained: MS Information Technology at FSU
Contact Info: anniecynthiathomas@gmail.com
Position: Senior Software Developer
Interesting Info: Annie consistently went above and beyond as an FSU student. She was outstanding in the LIS5775 Organizational Information Security class during Spring 2022. Annie’s potential and preeminence in cloud security shone through when she was inspired to penetrate the SECNET network in the Cloud. Watch this YouTube video to see what she did.
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Jacob Mills
Graduation Date: Spring 2019
Degrees Obtained: Combined MS/BS Computer Science at FSU
Contact Info: jacobmillsfl@gmail.com
Employer: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Position: Cyber Systems Engineer
Interesting Info: “I’ve been involved with several facets of reverse engineering since graduation and prior. I’ve created technologies to aid reverse engineering through automation and visualization. Some of my most notable work involved vulnerability discovery and exploitation for DoD funded projects. While at Florida State University I was the Vice President of the Cybersecurity Club for 2 years and designed and led multiple workshops involving offensive cybersecurity education and practice. When I’m not performing cybersecurity research, I enjoy developing full stack applications and automating tasks. The FSU Cybersecurity Club has been a wonderful community to me and it helped open several doors in my career.”
Areas of Interest: Reverse Engineering, Malware Analysis, Automation
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Taylor Shields
Graduation Date: Fall 2018
Degrees Obtained:
BS Computer Science at FSU
MS Computer Science – Cyber Security at FSU
Contact Info: taylorrshields20@gmail.com
Employer: Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
Position: Pathways Program – Computer Scientist, JITC (Joint Interoperability Test Command)
Interesting Info: In 2016-2017, Taylor served as the Club’s Historian and later became the Club’s Secretary from 2017-2018. Interacting with the club and its members is what inspired Taylor to enter the field of cybersecurity and she highly recommend the Club to any who are interested, no matter your background or skill level!
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Shawn Stone
Graduation Date: Spring 2018
Degrees Obtained: MS Computer Science at FSU
Contact Info: shawnalanstone14@gmail.com
Employer: MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Cyber Systems Assessment Group
Position: Associate Staff
Areas of Interest: Vulnerability Research, Exploitation, Malware Analysis, Digital Forensics
Interesting Info: “I taught binary exploitation as part of CTF class twice. I am still a somewhat active member of n0l3ptr. If you want to work with me on a Reversing or exploit challenge just message me on slack @sstone”
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Douglas Hennenfent
Graduation Date: Spring 2018
Degrees Obtained: MS Computer Science at FSU
Contact Info: Douglas.Hennenfent@gmail.com
Employer: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center / Hunt and Incident Response Team
Position: Incident Response Analyst
Salary: GS-9
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Ernest Besse
Graduation Date: Spring 2018
Degrees Obtained: BS Computer Science at FSU
Contact Info: roybesse@gmail.com
Employer: Lockheed Martin
Position: Cyber Intel Analyst Asc.
Salary: $84,000/year
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Grady Denton
Graduation Date: Spring 2018
Degrees Obtained: BS Computer Information Systems at University of Tampa (2008); MS Computer Criminology at FSU (2018)
Employer: US Army Corps of Engineers
Position: Digital Forensic Investigator
Salary: Pathways program starting from GS-9 going to GS-12
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Jake Hill 
Graduation Date: Summer 2017
Degrees Obtained: BS Computer Criminology at FSU
Contact Info: jake.r.hill1996@gmail.com || @notjakehill
Employer: Voya Financial
Position: Penetration Tester
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W. Owen Redwood
Graduation Date: 2016
Degrees Obtained: Ph.D. & M.S. in Computer Science at FSU
Personal Links: https://www.youtube.com/@gtg051x/videos
Employer: Research Innovations Inc.
Position: Principal Security Researcher
Interesting Info: My career has primarily focused on Vulnerability Research and Operational Technology within Data Centers, Power Grids, Smart Buildings, Healthcare environments, and others. Vulnerability Research and Operational Technology are two fields that often seem prohibitively daunting and complex, but are less esoteric than one might think. While at FSU, I was a co-founder of the FSU CTF team n0l3ptr, and founded the Offensive Computer Security course at FSU. Before I finished my degree I got picked up by DARPA to do mad scientist cyber wizardry. Afterwards I was the Executive Director and Chief Researcher for the Nebraska Applied Research Institute, where we pioneered defensive cybersecurity advancements for the Healthcare industry, including establishing new industry best practices with the American Society for Health Care Engineering to design and construct smart, cybersecurity health care facilities, as well as innovating technologies for designing safer life-critical biomedical devices, which are currently patent pending. Currently I work for Research Innovations Incorporated (RII) solving fun and very-hard problems for interesting customers. In my free time, I enjoy boxing, playing guitar, professional ballroom dancing, teaching CTF workshops, and adventuring through exotic wilderness, when I am not busy “Hacking All The Things” ®.PS. Yes I own the trademark on that text, and grant permission to use it here.
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Van Bettis
Graduation Date: Spring 2016
Degrees Obtained: BS Information Technology at FSU
Contact Info: van.bettis@a-lign.com | bettisvan@gmail.com
Certifications: C|EH (Certified Ethical Hacker)
Position: Sr. Penetration Tester
Interesting Info: “As a penetration tester, I provide clients with vulnerability enumeration, exploitation and remediation services allowing them to address security concerns and increase their security posture. I operate in the following environments: Web Application, External, Internal, Application Programming Interface (API), Social Engineering and Mobile Applications. If you have any questions or would just like to chat I am always available via my email at van.bettis@a-lign.com.”
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Connor McLaughlin 
Graduation Date: Fall 2015
Degrees Obtained: BS Computer Science at FSU; MS Computer Science at FSU
Contact Info: J.connor.mclaughlin@gmail.com
Employer: MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Cyber Systems Assessments Group
Position: Associate Technical Staff
Salary: Starting $102,000/year
Interesting Info: “I contributed to the Lincoln Labs CTF team at Defcon finals in 2017. Ask me about middle endianness.”
Areas of Interest: Vulnerability research, exploitation, and malware analysis
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This Cybersecurity Hall of Fame has been established to honor FSU students who exceed academic expectations in a significant way. It serves as the highest benchmark, and an inspiration for future students. The students nominated here have made distinguished contributions to their own education, by going above and beyond academic requirements profoundly and repeatedly – demonstrating an extreme commitment to learning and expanding their own potential. Each has made their faculty proud. Each can be expected to make a similarly significant contribution to society, while leaving lasting impressions on the people, institutions, and organizations they go on to serve.
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