IT & Cybersecurity Student
Independent security researcher based in Liverpool. I test web applications, run a Proxmox home lab, and have one responsibly disclosed XSS vulnerability to my name so far.
Who I Am
I got into ethical hacking by poking at things to see what would break, and it stuck. In 2025 that turned into an authorised penetration test where I found a reflected XSS vulnerability, built the proof of concept, and wrote the disclosure report that informed the company.
Since then I've led a team at CyberFirst Wales, done digital forensics with the same tools police forces use (XAMN and XRY), and put real hours into OSINT investigation work.
Most of my learning happens in my home lab: a Proxmox box running OPNsense, Pi-hole, Wazuh and a stack of self-hosted services, because breaking my own network is cheaper than breaking anyone else's.
AI is the other half of what I do. I've shipped platforms that people actually use, wired up automated pipelines, and built agents that let local models act on real systems instead of just answering questions. The part I keep coming back to is the overlap with security on using AI to find and fix weaknesses, and working out how to secure the models themselves to prevent exploitation.
- Artificial Intelligence
- Software Development
- OSINT & Digital Forensics
- Network Analysis
- Web Application Security
Where I've Been
Software Developer Intern
- Building educational games in React and Go to tackle the education system's curriculum
Technical Lead
- Led the technical side of a student team through CyberFirst Wales, a national cybersecurity competition run at De Montfort University
- Viewed inside a live Security Operations Centre setup, following up on how analysts triage and escalate alerts
- Ran digital forensic investigations using XAMN and XRY, the same mobile-extraction tools used by UK law enforcement
- Solved a series of OSINT investigation challenges using open-source reconnaissance techniques
Independent Security Researcher
- Ran an authorised penetration test of a live web application and found a reflected XSS vulnerability
- Built proof-of-concept payloads showing how the flaw could be used for phishing and data exfiltration
- Wrote the responsible disclosure report, with full reproduction steps and remediation advice, and sent it to the company
Project Manager
- Took part in a 3-day residential engineering and cybersecurity course at the University of Manchester
- Managed a team project end to end, from initial concept through to the final pitch and branding
Team Leader
- Led a team of five students to develop and pitch a business idea in a national enterprise competition
- Our team placed 4th nationally in the UK final
What I Work With
Everything below comes from something I built or broke, along with the tools I used to do it.
Web App Security
I found a reflected XSS on a live site through manual payload testing, built proof-of-concept payloads showing the session-hijack impact, and reported it as a responsible disclosure that got the bug fixed.
Burp SuiteXSS / PoC payloadsResponsible disclosure
OSINT & Forensics
I ran mobile forensic extractions at CyberFirst Wales using XAMN and XRY, the same tools UK law enforcement use, alongside OSINT investigations built on open-source reconnaissance.
XAMN / XRYGoogle dorkingWHOIS / recon
Network Security
I intercepted live traffic on a controlled network with Bettercap to read HTTP credentials in the clear, then hardened my own lab behind an OPNsense firewall with segmented VLANs, recursive Pi-hole DNS, and Tailscale VPN tunnels.
BettercapOPNsensePi-hole / UnboundTailscale
Cryptography
I dug into where cryptography breaks: RSA under quantum attack and MD5's rainbow-table weakness, testing hashing and encryption hands-on in CyberChef.
CyberChefHashingRSA / MD5
Threat Analysis
I deployed a T-Pot honeypot on Proxmox and ran attacks against it from separate VMs, then read the captured telemetry to see how real reconnaissance and brute-force patterns actually look.
T-PotHoneypot telemetryAttack pattern analysis
Infrastructure
I built and run a headless Proxmox home lab over SSH: VMs and LXC containers, segmented networks, firewall rules, backups, and monitoring, all self-hosted on hardware I own.
ProxmoxLXC / DockerBash / SSH
Programming & Scripting
PythonBashC#HTML/CSSNode.jsJSONSQLAPI IntegrationHashingWebhooksLinux FundamentalsVisual StudioVSCode
How I Work
- Technical writing: authored a responsible disclosure report with full reproduction steps
- Leading teams: led five students to 4th place nationally in a Prince's Trust competition
- Communication: presented security topics to non-technical audiences at CyberFirst Wales
- Building products: built and maintain two free study platforms used by students, keeping each in step with the live exam specs
Built and Broken
PicoClaw
Integrated an autonomous agent framework using the dedicated Docker image and external LLM APIs to automate tasks and scheduling.
- Containerised an AI agent with Docker for clean, reproducible execution
- Integrated external LLM APIs with webhooks for event-driven task automation
- Scheduled fully autonomous runs using cron-based orchestration
Network Monitoring Analysis
Performed traffic analysis using Bettercap to enhance my understanding of the importance of HTTPS, HTTP vulnerabilities & Wi-Fi security.
- Executed ARP spoofing to position as MiTM and intercept live traffic
- Captured unencrypted HTTP credentials using Bettercap packet sniffing
- Demonstrated how easily unsecured network traffic can be read
Triple-Boot System Configuration
Configured a multi-boot environment with Windows and two Linux distributions for experimentation, self-learning, and feasibility.
- Designed a partition layout supporting three Operating Systems on a single drive
- Configured GRUB bootloader to allow seamless switching
- Planned OS installation sequence and disabled secure boot to avoid bootloader conflicts
Web Security Research
Tested a live website for vulnerabilities, found a reflected XSS, and responsibly disclosed it with proof-of-concept payloads and mitigations.
- Identified a reflected XSS vulnerability through manual payload testing
- Crafted proof-of-concept payloads demonstrating session hijacking potential
- Simulated a phishing scenario to illustrate real-world exploit impact
Simulated Honeypot
Experimented with a high-interaction simulated honeypot framework made by Evilputer to gain an understanding of the behaviour on the backend.
- Probed deceptive services to understand attacker enumeration behaviour
- Examined bogus credentials being used in Telnet-style attack surfaces to increase realism
- Observed how a high-interaction honeypot mimics a real compromised host
- Explored how lateral movement could be tracked within the honeypot environment
NXP's NFC Authentication Pipeline Investigation
Set up bare-metal firmware on an NXP internal evaluation board to communicate with an SLRC610 NFC reader via LPCOpen, and debugged a hardware-level failure traced to missing components.
- Configured bare-metal firmware using MCUXpress & LPCOpen on the LPC11U37H
- Diagnosed a hardware communication failure traced to missing components on the NFC board via live debugger inspection
- Worked through the SLRC610 datasheet and NXP's official library to understand the protocol stack
NeuralRevise
Built an autonomous web agent using Playwright and a local LLM to navigate and complete MCQ-based revision tasks, with an adaptive memory system that learns from correct outcomes over time.
- Investigated Cloudflare bot detection mechanisms and bypassed them by attaching to a real Chrome session via Chrome DevTools Protocol
- Benchmarked llama3.1:8b accuracy across A-Level CS topic areas, identifying weak spots in methodology questions
- Studied adaptive memory as a replacement for repeated LLM inference, achieving 95%+ accuracy after a full question bank run
ChatLlama
Created a self-hosted WhatsApp bot on a Debian 12 LXC that routes messages to a local Ollama instance, enabling private AI conversations on your behalf.
- Provisioned two Debian 12 LXCs on Proxmox with one for the gateway, and one for Ollama with inter-LXC communication
- Integrated whatsapp-web.js with Puppeteer running headless Chrome in a root LXC environment
- Configured sliding window context memory retaining the last 10 messages per session
The Lab
I run a self-built Proxmox home lab on an Intel i7-7700 with 32GB RAM and roughly 1TB of storage. It exists so I can break things safely: real network analysis and security research on hardware I own, not a cloud sandbox I rent.
It hosts a mix of isolated VMs and LXC containers running everything from a Wazuh SIEM to a local LLM. Every service is segmented behind OPNsense and monitored by me, not handed off to a third-party platform.
Where I Study
Childwall Sports & Science Academy
- BTEC IT
- GCSE Computer Science
- GCSE Business Studies
- GCSE Triple Science
The Studio School
- A-level Computer Science
- AAQ Computing
- A-level Business Studies
University of Liverpool Scholar
- Competitive access programme for high-achieving students
- University-level mentoring & academic workshops
- On-site campus experience at UoL
Out in the Wild
A few sites I've built and put online, separate from the security work.
Studio Liverpool
A directory of creative studios around Liverpool, from photography and music to design and film spaces.
studioliverpool.ukAnonycord
A free, open-source iOS recorder that films with the screen fully dark, so the phone looks switched off while it records. Sideloaded, no App Store.
anonycord.comRevision Platforms
Two free study platforms I build and keep in step with the current exam specs.
Jack's Revision Hub
Spec-aligned revision notes and flashcard apps spanning seven A-Level subjects, from Computing and Sciences to Psychology and Business.
revision.jackghx.comCyber Revision
Notes, spaced-repetition review, self-marking quizzes, hands-on CTF challenges and an in-browser security workbench, from fundamentals to practical skills.
cyber.jackghx.comInformation may be incorrect. Please verify against the official specifications and use at your own discretion. I am not responsible for any inaccuracies or issues that may arise from using these resources.
Get in Touch
Open to internships and security research. If you're hiring in cyber or want to build something together, get in touch.