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Johnny
Meintel

Detection engineering, offensive security research, and AI red teaming.

application.log active
target cybersecurity role
endpoint POST /careers/apply
class authorization bypass
finding resume gap → priv escalation
severity HIGH
status ✓ submitted
// role modified in application body
"title": "unemployed" "Detection Engineer"
"access": "none" "research-active"
 
// escalation accepted server-side
200 OK → { "interview": "scheduled" }
About

1 year of tech support experience, 2 degrees, and a dozen certifications. Currently pursuing my 2nd M.S. in Software Engineering / AI Engineering from WGU while working as an AI Annotator. Seeking entry level cybersecurity role.

Hands-on security experience built through independent lab work. Designed and deployed a full enterprise simulation environment including an Active Directory domain, Splunk SIEM, and a dedicated attack platform, then ran the full offensive and defensive cycle: simulating attacks, writing detection rules, and tuning alerts. Currently pursuing HTB COAE and active on HackerOne.

~/research
Skills & Credentials

Tooling

A mix of completed projects and work in progress, covering detection engineering, security tooling, and recon automation.

homelab-detection-lab GitHub →

Custom Wazuh detection rules and Splunk SPL queries built against a 7-VM Windows domain lab. Covers lateral movement, privilege escalation, persistence, and credential access. Includes diagnostic scripts for both Splunk indexer and Universal Forwarder.

Wazuh Splunk detection engineering PowerShell
homelab-assessment-scripts GitHub →

PowerShell assessment and hardening scripts for a Windows domain homelab - domain controller baseline, IIS/MySQL application server review, workstation security audit, ASR rule enforcement, and AD tiering with LDAPS. Each script outputs a structured findings report.

PowerShell Active Directory hardening Windows
recon-logger-101.py in progress

Modular recon pipeline - subdomain enumeration via subfinder, live host probing with httpx, response header fingerprinting, and tech stack detection. Built for HackerOne bug bounty recon.

Python recon bug bounty
prompt-injection-suite.py in progress

Categorised prompt injection payload library with a test runner for any OpenAI-compatible endpoint - direct injection, indirect via RAG context, jailbreaks, data exfil probes, and a response scoring engine.

Python AI red team LLM
CompTIA A+ CompTIA Earned
CompTIA Network+ CompTIA Earned
CompTIA Security+ CompTIA Earned
CompTIA Cloud+ CompTIA Earned
CompTIA CySA+ CompTIA Earned
CompTIA PenTest+ CompTIA Earned
CompTIA Project+ CompTIA Earned
ITIL v4 Axelos Earned
LPI Linux Essentials Linux Professional Institute Earned
AWS Cloud Practitioner Amazon Web Services Earned
Azure Fundamentals Microsoft · AZ-900 Earned
Google Cybersecurity Professional Google / Coursera Earned
HTB COAE HackTheBox · Certified Offensive AI Expert In progress · JUL 2026
AI-102 Microsoft · Azure AI Engineer Associate Target
OSCP OffSec · PEN-200 Target
Research

Lab Work & Writeups

Active work across homelab attack-defend research, HTB, and PortSwigger. Published articles on Medium covering detection engineering, AD exploitation, and offensive tooling.

rooted. full tracker →
Currently working on HTB Starting Point · Tier 2
18 boxes rooted
2/3 SP tiers done
Latest Post
2026-04-15 bug-bounty offensive
Bug Bounty 101.1 - Building a Basic Recon Logger in Python

Python HTTP header recon tool for active bug bounty workflows - checks for missing security headers, outdated server fingerprints (PHP 5.x, Apache 2.2, IIS 6/7), and wildcard CORS misconfigurations. First in a practical bug bounty tooling series.

Read on Medium → All posts →
DatePlatformTarget Vuln ClassSummaryWriteup
2026-01-10 Homelab DC01 - Windows Network Share SMB · lateral movement Attacked overpermissioned share via smbclient; detected via Event 5145 in Splunk; hardened SMB signing and ACLs Read →
2025-12-08 Homelab APP01 - IIS / MySQL Web misconfig · SQLi · priv esc IIS directory browsing + MySQL exposed → web shell → app pool running as Domain Admin → full domain compromise Read →
2025-11-28 Homelab DC01 - Domain Controller Assessment AD · password policy · NTP PowerShell baseline assessment: excessive DA membership, zero lockout threshold, NTP misconfiguration, legacy NetBIOS exposure Read →
2025-11-28 Homelab APP01 - Web Server Assessment IIS · MySQL · service accounts HTTP without TLS, MySQL on 0.0.0.0, SMB/WinRM exposed, three overprivileged service accounts identified Read →
2025-11-27 Homelab WIN11-MGR1 - Workstation Assessment Windows hardening · AD AutoAdminLogon with DA credentials in plaintext registry, UAC disabled, RDP open, Kerberoastable service accounts - critical chain to domain compromise Read →
2025-11-20 Homelab cjcs.local - AD Attack Chain AD · Kerberoasting · DCSync Network access → CrackMapExec → Responder NTLM capture → Hashcat → Kerberoasting via impacket-GetUserSPNs → DCSync - full domain compromise documented Read →
2025-10-30 Homelab DC01 - AD Hardening (SOC 2) GRC · AD · LDAPS SOC 2 CC6.1/CC7.1/CC8.1 gap remediation - account tiering, Wazuh rule 100010 for privileged login detection, LDAPS via internal CA on port 636 Read →
2025-10-08 Homelab SIEM01 - Wazuh Build SIEM · detection engineering Wazuh 4.14.0 on Ubuntu 24.04 with agents on DC01/APP01/MGR1; custom brute force and password spray rules; MITRE ATT&CK mapped alerts Read →
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