Charles Cassam — Network Engineer & Cybersecurity Specialist, York UK

> ALIAS: Charles Cassam

> LOCATION: York, UK

> OBJECTIVE: Building a rock-solid foundation for a career in network engineering and pentesting.

I am a network engineer and cybersecurity specialist based in York, North Yorkshire. After years as a bodyshop and workshop manager in the automotive industry, I made a deliberate career change into IT infrastructure and security — not a hobby pivot, but a structured transition built on real hands-on work with enterprise-grade equipment and professional methodologies.

My homelab runs an enterprise UniFi networking stack (UDM Pro, USW Pro Max 48 PoE, U7 Pro APs), a three-node Proxmox virtualisation cluster on Dell OptiPlex thin clients, TrueNAS for centralised storage, and an eight-VLAN network with default-deny inter-VLAN firewall rules. I operate a dedicated pentesting machine on an isolated VLAN running Parrot Security OS with Nmap, Burp Suite, Metasploit, and Wireshark. I have completed an authorised web application penetration test for a real organisation using OWASP methodology, with a formal written report delivered.

I am currently studying for a Diploma in Network Engineering with the Open University, with a CCNA module planned for H2 2026. I also operate as Wolds Cyber Security Ltd, offering fixed-price network security audits and penetration testing for small and medium businesses across York, East Riding, and North Yorkshire. My technical stack spans Linux administration, Proxmox virtualisation, VLAN architecture, Suricata IDS, AI agent automation, and self-hosted encrypted communications infrastructure.