Over the past 3 months, we had the pleasure of teaching, hosting, and working with two terrific interns. This talented duo was made up of Ghent local, Eden de Witte, and from the beautiful coast town of Blankenberge, Angelo Aguilar-Morillo.   Angelo, a lover of games and bug bounty hunting, had been looking for a cybersecurity internship opportunity. When he spotted Cyrex, a game penetration testing specialist, he knew he had found something that was perfect for him. For Eden, a man who appreciates the rainy days spent gaming and exploring RPGs, Cyrex offered a potential to flex his gaming and cybersecurity muscles. For both of them, Cyrex represented an interesting challenge and an avenue into a potential career of cybersecurity and game penetration testing. One which the Cyrex team were all too happy to aid in offering.  

Their Time with Cyrex

The early days of the internship were spent learning and educating themselves on the world of penetration testing. This meant getting to grips with Cyrex’ own internal tools like Protoceptor and Swarm, reviewing source code, and learning how a few game engines work. This is a steep learning curve and the Cyrex team were impressed at the commitment and speed at which Eden and Angelo took this challenge. Both are locals, which meant they could take a lot of time in the Cyrex office proper and get to know the team there. We understand that, even for those savvy in tech and cybersecurity, this is a big jump up and they would have a lot of questions. Tasks were laid out, workflows established, and we simply had to admire how Eden and Angelo evolved over their time with us. By the time they were leaving, it was like they had been a part of the team for a year! The two intern engineers showed autonomy, initiative, and independence alongside our dedicated cybersecurity team.   The pair didn’t get off easy though! There was no lounging around and shadowing, they were straight into the trenches of the cyberwar against hackers and malicious actors. Angelo and Eden were tasked with an Unreal Engine 5 project, engaging with some of our internal tools alongside the game engine. One of the most daunting elements was an extensive source code review in a coding language they weren’t too familiar with. But it barely slowed them down. As a pair hacking team, just like our own Cyrex team, they found their way through the challenge and crushed it!  

What did they learn?

As much as their internship was a learning experience, we pride ourselves on actually teaching new potential security engineers to the best of our ability. We know that this industry is built on the back of passion and a love for the craft. So, when people like Eden and Angelo come our way, we wanted to do our best for them as much as they wanted to perform well for us.   Given his background in bug bounty hunting, we were so happy to hear that Angelo had learnt a lot about the expanding cybersecurity field. He discovered and explored new techniques and new ways to approach security issues, alongside getting to experience some brand new games. Eden was astounded by the comprehensive knowledge in the Cyrex team, as his experience as a student had been a little limited. During his time with Cyrex, he saw and learnt multiple methods that he had never seen or thought of before and is excited about applying them in the future.   Lastly, we were so happy to hear that Angelo and Eden felt welcome and heard during their stay with our security team. Angelo said, “I always had a great time being there, surrounded by friendly and supportive colleagues.” And Eden added that, “We didn't have to worry about our questions staying unanswered, or progress stalling.” With a wealth of learning experience and our feedback, we wish the absolute best to Angelo and Eden in their cybersecurity futures. They were both stellar interns and our team will miss them moving forward but know that the pair have bright days ahead as talented cybersecurity professionals. If you’d be interested in a cybersecurity internship or career, check out our careers page! If you’d like to avail of our gold standard cybersecurity or load testing services, don’t hesitate to visit our site or contact our team directly.