What is The Broken Castle?

I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003 and was trained as a Combat Engineer. Combat engineers are sent into minefields with little more than a detector, some rope, and a bag full of explosives. The symbol of the military engineer is the castle, a carry-over from the days when Kings would call upon siege engineers and sappers to breach the enemy's fortress. I loved my job; it allowed me to do incredible things and meet awesome people. However, after 15 years of service as a Marine Combat Engineer, I noticed that my community had stagnated; we had done little to improve our tactics and technology since the 1970s. So, in 2019, I sent an article to the Marine Corps Gazette titled "The Castle Must Fall." The controversial opinion piece advocated for serious changes in the combat engineer community and garnered backlash from active-duty Marines and combat engineer veterans alike. The thought of destroying the sacred castle touched a nerve with many, and I found the emotional responses hilarious. Despite my contrarian views on combat engineers in the future fight, I am, at my core, a combat engineer; the castle is an indelible part of who I am.

Fast forward to today, and I find myself in the twilight of my military career. Although this chapter is coming to a close, the next will be just as challenging: cybersecurity. Pivoting to cybersecurity, I find the symbology of the castle remains relevant. We spend valuable resources building up the walls of a castle to defend against cyber intruders. Then comes Kyle from accounting. Kyle is in the market for a 1993 Vespa Cosa, the pinnacle of Italian engineering. Kyle doesn't care that he's using company time to continue his quest for the coveted Vespa, nor is he paying attention to the seedy websites his search has taken him. Does Kyle feel remorse for the keylogger he inadvertently downloaded or the terabytes of compromised customer data? Not at all. And so the castle falls. But you can fix a broken castle: reinforce the walls, replace the gates, and toss Kyle into the moat for good measure. You can rebuild a broken castle anew, which is what I plan to do with myself.

My promise to you

Absolutely nothing. I'm setting a very low bar here, and we'll see where it goes.

What can you expect?

I share stories about my home lab projects, opinions on cybersecurity trends and leadership, and humorous anecdotes about lemur shenanigans.