Daniel Murphy

Computer Science graduate from Columbia University and current MSc student in Computer Science & Business Studies with expertise in offensive security and penetration testing. Proficient in scripting, networking fundamentals, and cloud environments, complemented by hands-on security research experience. Recognized for strong communication skills in conveying technical risks. Actively pursuing a junior penetration testing role to enhance skills in web, API, cloud, and infrastructure security testing.

DataDaemon — Defensive Threat Intelligence Platform (In Progress)

Go, APIs, Logging, Cloud-Ready Architecture

· Designed and implemented a read-only, event-driven threat intelligence platform for monitoring Telegram bot infrastructure used in real-world attack campaigns.

· Built multiple Go services to collect, validate, and analyze security telemetry without interacting with or controlling external systems.

· Implemented token validation, event ingestion, and structured logging to support investigation and correlation workflows.

· Developed a queryable HTTP API for analysts to explore collected events and actor activity.

· Focused on defensive research, safe data handling, and clear separation between collection, processing, and analysis components.

· Gained hands-on experience with threat intelligence pipelines, backend services, and security-focused system design.

Cloud Security Misconfiguration Scanner (In Progress)

· Developing a Python-based tool to identify common AWS security misconfigurations.
· Detects publicly accessible S3 buckets, overly permissive IAM policies, open security groups, and
missing encryption.
· Produces structured findings with severity levels and remediation guidance.
· Focused on understanding real-world cloud attack surfaces and defensive gaps.

Web Application Backend with SQL Database

· Built a Flask-based backend with SQL database and RESTful endpoints.
· Implemented GET/POST data access and basic authentication logic.
· Gained hands-on understanding of common web application attack surfaces.

Application Development Initiative (ADI), Columbia University

· Mentored student teams by debugging and reviewing code across multiple projects.

· Assisted with Python, C++, Java, and JavaScript issues in time-constrained environments.

Independent Security Learning

· Actively studying web, network, and cloud security vulnerabilities.

· Regularly experimenting with labs, scripts, and security tooling to deepen offensive security skills.

· Implemented GET/POST data access and basic authentication logic.

· Gained hands-on understanding of common web application attack surfaces.

Interests

Cybersecurity research, penetration testing labs, cloud systems, scripting, building and benchmarking computers, and technical writing.

Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance — Zookeeper Assistant

· Worked in safety-critical, fast-paced team environments.

· Emphasized communication, responsibility, and operational awareness.