Warren King

Built a hands-on lab focused on Non-Human Identity (NHI) security — auditing service accounts, API keys, and machine credentials for over-privilege, stale access, and secrets exposure. Automated detection of dormant service accounts using Python and AWS IAM Access Analyzer, simulated credential exfiltration to test detection coverage, and implemented secrets rotation workflows with AWS Secrets Manager to minimize standing access risk.

Deployed an internet-facing honeypot on AWS using EC2 and OpenCanary inside an isolated VPC, capturing live attacker activity across SSH, HTTP, FTP, MySQL, and Telnet. Built a fully serverless logging pipeline with CloudWatch, Lambda, and DynamoDB to parse and store structured attack data in real time. Enforced least-privilege IAM and observed automated probes within minutes of deployment.

Built an AWS EC2 lab to simulate IAM misconfigurations and privilege escalation attacks using Kali Linux and the AWS CLI against over-privileged IAM accounts. Monitored suspicious activity via CloudTrail and GuardDuty, then automated incident response with Lambda (Python/Boto3) to disable compromised accounts in real time.

Deployed a static website on Amazon EC2 using Apache HTTP Server on Amazon Linux. Covered the full flow: launching an instance, SSH configuration, Apache setup, custom HTML upload, and security group rules for HTTP/SSH traffic. A foundational project for understanding cloud hosting, Linux server administration, and AWS networking.

Developed a PowerShell-based detection system to identify IAM misconfigurations across 15,000+ user accounts during my City of Dallas internship. Reduced unauthorized access risk and significantly improved audit efficiency across the enterprise.