About JP

Bio:


- Co-author of O'Reilly's bash Cookbook 2nd and bash Idioms
- Information Security, Linux & Perl Geek
- Former Co-maintainer of the Snort.org RPMs
- Former Infrastructure and Network Security (esp. Snort) expert for SearchSecurity.TechTarget.com's "Ask the Expert" feature (Meet the other Experts)
Vossen Bio Pic
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JP has been working with computers since the early Eighties and has been in the IT industry since the early Nineties, specializing in Information Security since the late Nineties. He spent some of that time working as a consultant and about 12 years as a Senior Security Engineer for BT MSS (i.e., BT Counterpane). He was also Director of Customer Support for SGP Technologies (Blackphone.ch) for a while, but prefers hands on technical work.

Mr. Vossen has worked with DOS, Windows, UNIX, VMS and AS/400 platforms, with duties ranging from first-level technical support to network and security architecture and design. He currently loves to work with Linux, Perl, Snort and other Open Source and Free Software but is otherwise not much of a programmer. Unlike many of his technically inclined colleagues, he also enjoys writing and documentation, which has led to the publication of various InfoSec articles, scripts and tips, O'Reilly's bash Cookbook 2nd, and O'Reilly's bash Idioms.

JP is also a CISSP and member of CSI, ISSA (Delaware Valley), InfraGard (Philadelphia Chapter), SANS, PLUG, and other industry related groups.


Publications & Whitepapers:


Tools:

  • See the Winlocgcheck page for my Windows port of logcheck, the famous UNIX log processing tool. You can also download the PowerPoint presentation I gave to the Philadelphia Area Network Technologies User Group (PANTUG) on September 12th 2001.
  • I have written a couple of management scripts for CheckPoint Firewall-1 (LogSwap & CPFWBack). See my CheckPoint Firewall Tools section for more information.
  • I have also packaged an NTP service that will run on a really hardened NT server (unlike the non-free MS TimeServ service). See my CheckPoint Firewall Tools section for more information.

My Job:

Here is my resume in PDF or HTML, last updated 2021-07-25.

Anyway, my certifications include:

  • CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) # 11049, granted March 4 2000, to present.
  • Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE); late 1990's
  • CheckPoint Firewall-1 v3.x Certified Systems Engineer (CCSE); mid-late 1990's
  • WatchGuard Certified System Professional (WCSP); mid-late 1990's
  • a Novell 3.x CNA (Certified Novell Administrator); mid 1990's

See my Bio above.

I have worked with many small and mid-size companies in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I have experience with companies in a broad range of markets, including Telecommunications, Pharmaceutical, Financial, Healthcare, and Manufacturing.

I have worked with networks from Netware Lite and Netware 3.x on up to 30+ site TCP/IP WANS. I have written programs in COBOL, Pascal, C, BASIC, Perl, Bourne Shell and many application macro languages including VBScript. I have also been a beta tester for Microsoft (Win95 & NT4), Symantec and others.

What I like to do:

I am kind of a generalist rather than a specialist, one reason for my interest in Information Security--it is a very broad and far-reaching topic. I find I enjoy the tactical (in-the-weeds) side of things much more than the strategic. I really get into the nuts and bolts of how best to accomplish the goal and am very methodical about the process and documentation. I do best with solid, uninterrupted blocks of time during which I can fully focus on a task (see Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule).

I really enjoy:

  • Scripting, building system & tool automation/integration
    • Ansible, shell scripts, Perl, Regular Expressions, Unix TextUtils and pipelines
    • DevOps concepts and implementation
  • Technical writing and documentation (ideally in wiki markup)
  • Getting as much as possible under revision control (git, bzr, hg, svn)
  • Linux (mostly Debian and Ubuntu/Mint, and CentOS) and other Free and Open Source software
  • Smart people I can both learn from and teach
  • Learning more about: Python, DevOps, Anisble
  • Did I mention bash, Perl & Linux? :-)

My Education:

I went to Oratory Prep High School, in Summit, NJ.

I also have a BSIS from The University of Pittsburgh. University of Pittsburgh Logo


My Hobbies and Interests include: