CyberHansenShao

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Hansen Shao

Crean Lutheran High School
Class of 2025

Received a thorough hands-on introduction to Linux and other cybersecurity software including WireShark.

Worked with global experts from various cybersecurity fields to learn advanced concepts including firewall establishment, CIA Triads, Threat Detection/Analysis, Training Recommendations, and Legal Policies.

Created a cybersecurity protocol proposal for a nonprofit organization to best protect their client’s data and personal information using network and physical security recommendations.

Learn more about Hansen here.

Hansen Shao is attending the Cybersecurity and defense program and is excited to be attending this summer program. He loves dealing with things related to engineering and also loves dealing with electronic devices. He hopes to gain more knowledge about the process behind creating Cybersecurity and how these protection services work.

Hansen is a rising senior who has enrolled in many different Advanced Placement and Honor classes. Along with that, he is in multiple different clubs, contributing his ideas and thoughts to support his clubs. He is a part of his school’s Math Olympiad team, being a regular member to meetings, competitions, and other parts of Math Olympiad. Hansen is a member of his school’s varsity volleyball team and brings in both energy and leadership, making sure his team is both ready and always cheerful.

Hansen is looking forward to making an impact on the world and society, learning the impacts of cybersecurity, and creating systems that can help defend different places. He hopes to pursue a career in which he can work with computers, especially in the data science category. He is also willing to work in applied math and help make calculations for different industries.

Read more about Hansen’s achievements here.

Business Partner Overview

National Reentry Network

Quick Facts

The National Reentry Network For Returning Citizens is a nonprofit organization that strives to give formerly incarcerated individuals a second chance to restore their lives by providing resources and support to those who need it.

Housing and employment are the biggest barriers to re-entry. Therefore, The National Reentry Network For Returning Citizens primarily helps clients nationwide with these two necessities by providing them with housing and temporary occupations for up to three years free of cost. Assisting over 1000 clients over the last year, TNRNFRC has a 99% success rate of their clients not getting re-incarcerated.

National Reentry Network

About the Founder

Courtney Stewart is the founder and chairman of The National Reentry Network For Returning Citizens which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals both before and after the justice system. Mr. Stewart himself is a formerly incarcerated individual who grew up in an alcoholic family.

In 2006 he founded Mentoring Works2 which gives DC youth a mentor to ensure they receive an education and mentor. Mr. Stewart understands the “revolving door” of incarceration and how it is easy to get stuck in that cycle. After being in prison for 8 years, he struggled to get a footing in the real world again. He wants to make a difference in the community by helping others who were in his position to get a second chance at life.

National Reentry Network

About the Business

Co-founded in 2010 by Courtney Stewart, the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens works to help previously incarcerated individuals return to their communities informed, supported, and integrated. The organization pairs with these individuals to help foster a safe environment for their return. Partnering with formerly incarcerated individuals helps foster a sense of security and aids in the transition into pedestrian life. The Network focuses on creating a reform in the criminal justice system, starting by helping those directly impacted by the system.

Their vision is to aid in the transition from incarceration to normal life by providing formerly incarcerated individuals with the tools they need to be well-informed, active members of society. They work to help these individuals receive and retain livable wage employment, permanent housing, and reunification with family. Their goal is to create a form of self-growth and independence, starting as soon as their incarceration is over.

National Reentry Network

Current Vulnerabilities

Working with formerly incarcerated individuals means client protection is our biggest concern. The National Reentry Network’s number one priority is creating systems that can fully protect the sensitive information surrounding personal data.

They want to ensure that their staff understands how to protect this information best and prevent their websites from becoming the victim of targeted hacking. Gaining insight into the proper procedures surrounding these issues will aid the organization in its mission.

My Security
Proposal

Our goals for our proposal were to address the main cyber security concerns of our partner business, as well as threats we identified through SWOT analysis and the CIA triad.

Our plan implements multiple cyber security protocols and solutions to protect our partners, such as a Barracuda Cybersecurity Platform and an iDrive Cloud Backups to create stronger protection for the clients’ data. We want to back up data to storage clouds to ensure that it does not get lost and limit the overall access employees have to the information to ensure the personal information is not compromised. This will be coupled with Barracuda’s multifaceted protection services to implore employees to better ensure client confidentiality./p>

Our proposal was successfully granted, allowing us to implement our solution for our non-profit. This will ensure that our partner is not at a high risk of physical threats, employee negligence, and hacktivists, protecting them for years to come.

My Security
Proposal
Presentation

During the Cybersecurity & Defense Internship, I worked with Beth Cerrone and Jamie Kreider to learn about the basics of cybersecurity, and potential career pathways within it.

Throughout the week, I worked with a nonprofit to develop cybersecurity solutions to protect against various cyber threats. I worked with my team to analyze the threats to the organization, and then developed a comprehensive solution. At the end of the week, I presented my cybersecurity solution to a panel of three judges and received grant money to implement the solution.

Internship Highlights

I was given the unique opportunity to take exclusive tours of multiple government and security sites to speak directly with security professionals. During these tours, I was able to witness first-hand how cybersecurity operates at the national and international level.

I was given the unique opportunity to attend an embassy where I received a briefing on cultural, economic, and international situations. We also got the opportunity to ask questions about the country’s cybersecurity infrastructure; therefore, allowing me to learn about cybersecurity at an international level.

We also toured the Department of Homeland Securities’ Cyber Crimes Center where we received classified tours of the cyber crimes unit of the DHS and learned how Homeland Security uses cyber intelligence to track major crimes such as drug smuggling, human trafficking, and major theft.

In order to apply the skills I learned throughout the internship, I worked directly with a nonprofit based in the Washington D.C. area to discuss their companies cybersecurity needs.

After three meetings where I walked through the organization model, protected information, and staff training of the nonprofit, I worked with my team to create a staff training protocol and threat analysis for my partner.

At the end of the internship, I advocated for, and received funding for, my nonprofit partner to implement the cybersecurity training protocols so they can best protect their client information and continue to develop with a reduced fear of cyber attacks and cybersecurity threats.

To learn more about the world of cybersecurity, I was given the unique opportunity to speak directly with cybersecurity experts from multiple different organizations and backgrounds.

I worked directly with one of the leading consultants in Cyber Threat Management, and a consultant for cyber policy for the National Counterintelligence Executive, Phuong Nguyen, to learn about common threat assessment and cybersecurity counterintelligence. I also heard from the global leader in Firewall Creation, David Balenson; the author of the most widely-regarded O’Reilly book on cybersecurity, Michael Collins; and the lead SME for the FutureG Initiative for the Department of Defense.

Throughout the internship, I also heard presentations from, and spoke with, representatives from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the National Security Agency. To learn the physical side of cybersecurity, we also had the unique opportunity to meet with globally-recognized penetration testers and network threat assessors.

In order to put the skills we learned to the test, I had the unique opportunity to use a cybersecurity software used for graduate instructional courses to learn a myriad of cybersecurity skills.

Starting with network cybersecurity, I worked through labs dedicated to network security and linux to understand how networks communicate with each other and how cybersecurity poses a threat to this communication. I used these Linux skills to complete capture-the-flag coding competitions as well as virtual rooms.

At the end of the internship, I worked with an expert from a leading cybersecurity consulting firm to learn how to built ethernet cables. I used ethernet cord, crimpers, and wire strippers to produce functioning ethernet cables.