tech – Matt Shannon, Security Pro

Progress Isn’t Linear, in Martial Arts or Cybersecurity

Progress isn’t linear. Martial artists learn this the hard way. One day you nail a three punch combo finished with a clavicle crushing elbow; the next, you stumble over the same movement combination you were hitting regularly just a couple days before. Some weeks, you level up quickly, while others days you’ll hit stumbling blocks. Always approach your wins and losses with the same humility.

Cybersecurity follows the same rhythm. Just as martial artists face setbacks, security professionals experience their own ups and downs. You patch systems, close vulnerabilities, and tighten configurations. Then a new zero-day vulnerability emerges, or an audit reveals previously unaddressed blind spots. It feels like sliding backward.

That slide isn’t a failure, it’s where progress truly forms.

The Myth of Linear Progress

We often imagine progress as, although slow, always moving upward. Reality is less predictable.

Perfection Bias
We assume improvement should always feel smooth. However, mastery, in both martial arts and cybersecurity, is a jagged path. The dips are where the depth develops.
The Comparison Trap
We see others’ highlight reels, the black belt breaking boards, or the company posting its “zero vulnerabilities” report, and mistake it for constant progress. Behind every clean result lies a mess of mistakes, patches, and failed tests.
Forgetting That Setbacks Build Strength
Regression often signals deeper adaptation in progress. In training, it’s when you refine mechanics. In security, it’s when you reinforce foundations.

Why Steps Back Matter

Plateaus and regressions aren’t detours; they’re checkpoints. They test persistence. Anyone can stay motivated when everything goes as planned; resilience forms when it doesn’t.

They reveal gaps in fundamentals. A failed pen test or misconfigured IAM or conditional access policy highlights what needs real attention. They build humility and precision. Overconfidence blinds; setbacks sharpen focus.

On the mats and in the SOC, mastery isn’t about avoiding mistakes, it’s about learning faster from them.

The Cybersecurity Parallel

You don’t know what you don’t know so every incident teaches you something you didn’t know you needed to learn. Every vulnerability scan reveals details you may have overlooked. It isn’t failure. It’s your system adapting, like a martial artist’s mind & body.

A martial artist doesn’t quit after a rough sparring session. They analyze what went wrong, refine their techniques, and return smarter & stronger. Security teams should do the same. A missed vulnerability isn’t a defeat; it’s a mirror. It can show you where your technique slipped & where to tighten your counter-offensive skills.

From the Mats to the Data Center

Both disciplines thrive on discipline, reflection, and repitition:

Training drills = Routine audits. Each repetition builds muscle memory for fighters and for security teams.

Pad work and shadow boxing = Playbooks and runbooks. Practicing in controlled settings builds confidence under pressure.

Sparring = Incident Response sims. You can’t simulate chaos perfectly, but you can train to be calm, and respond correctly, in chaos. That’s why you just keep training and doing reps over and over because each time your partner responds differently but you’re learning to respond with the correct technique every time.

Every repetition, every submission attempt, every punch, every kick, or incident response builds competence and confidence. Every CVE update, OWASP update or vulnerability scan creates visibility and awareness.

The Real Skill of a Black Belt: The Ability to Adapt and Overcome

In martial arts, the belt color doesn’t make you untouchable; it signifies you’ve learned and adapted more than others. In cybersecurity, it’s the same. The strongest organizations aren’t flawless; they’re mobile, agile and when necessary, hostile.

Adaptation beats perfection. Reflection beats reaction. Resilience beats your comfort zone. So the next time your scan lights up with new vulnerabilities or your red team exposes a blind spot, don’t get discouraged. It’s just another training session.

Final Thought

Progress, whether in close range combat or in your code, isn’t about avoiding setbacks. It’s about showing up again after them. The real win isn’t being unbreakable, it’s being unshakable.

Keep patching. Keep learning. Keep moving. Progress isn’t linear, but staying adaptive always drives you forward. Or, as it was once famously said, “Be water my friend.”

Discipline Over Flash: 30 Strict Pull-Ups for Time

Most workouts have a loophole. If you know how to do them, you can kip and be done in less than a minute. Most dudes who do “pull-ups” cheat the range of motion like it’s a professional sport by never fully extending at the bottom, and/OR do NOT get their chins over the bar. But, every now and then, rules will strip everything away and reveal the raw truth.

That’s the point of this challenge: 30 strict pull-ups for time.

The rules are simple but tough:

Must be done in sets of 5 or 10 only. No singles, no doubles, and no kipping (this time).
NO half a$$ Pete Hegseth or RKF, Jr. reps.
Full extension at the bottom. Elbows locked out every time.
Chin over the bar at the top. No “almost” reps. No, “I was so close that time.”
Discipline over ego.

My time? Watch and see.

But the question you might be asking is, “Why Does This Even Matter?”

This is more than a physical test; it’s a mindset test, like the pressure faced in cybersecurity, leadership, or life.

Here’s what the workout teaches:

Constraints Make You Stronger
Without the rule of “5 or more reps per set,” you’d see people game the system: 30 singles, done easily, no challenge. But rules force focus. They push you past your comfort zone and into real growth.

Cloud security works on the same principle as the pull-up challenge: doing things the hard, correct way leads to lasting results. In cloud security, if you make permissions too loose or skip essential controls, it seems easier—just like doing easier pull-ups. But real security comes from applying restrictions such as least privilege, multi-factor authentication, and segmentation. These are to security what strict form is to strength: they are challenging but essential for durability.

2. Form Is Discipline
Locking out every rep is about integrity. Cutting corners in training leads to cutting corners under stress.

Cyber pros know the drill: if you skip patch cycles, code reviews, or alerts, you won’t suddenly excel in a crisis—you will perform only as well as your training prepared you. The point is: in emergencies, people don’t ‘rise to the occasion’; they revert to their standard preparedness.

3. Speed Comes From Structure
Strict pull-ups in just over 2 minutes require planning: strict adherence to set sizes, rest, and when to push or hold back.

Incident response follows the same principle: structured speed is essential. Success comes from following practiced processes, not from last-minute effort.

4. Resilience Beats Flash
Nobody remembers the person who did 20 kipping pull-ups that looked good on Instagram but didn’t count in this instance. The athletes who succeed in the gym or in life are those who can perform strict reps under pressure, year after year.

Resilience isn’t glamorous. It’s strict adherence to form and standards. Reps stacked and basics drilled.

Closing Thoughts

Thirty strict pull-ups for time really isn’t about the number. It’s about the mindset: constraints, no ego, and the discipline not to go again sooner than you can complete at least another set of 5, along with persistence under pressure.

The lessons extend beyond workouts. Whether you’re securing cloud environments, writing policies, or leading teams, following real constraints, practicing discipline, and building resilience are as vital as adhering to strict form in your pull-ups when required.

Constraints can make you sharper. Discipline makes you stronger. Resilience makes you unbreakable.

Persistence Beats Perfection

Chasing perfection can be tempting. It makes us believe that if we get everything exactly right, like following a flawless training plan or a perfect patch cycle, we’ll be safe from risks or mistakes. But perfection is fragile. One mistake or setback, and it falls apart. That’s when persistence matters most.

Persistence, on the other hand, is unbreakable and endures where perfection falters.

Anyone who’s trained in martial arts or strength sports knows some days you set PRs, some days you don’t. Some days you win; other days, you learn. The outcome of a single session doesn’t matter; what counts is that you keep showing up.

Cybersecurity runs on the same principle. Rather than expecting flawless results, it relies on the daily commitment, running scans, monitoring logs, and applying updates, which builds resilience over time.

Why Perfection Fails

Unrealistic expectations: Nobody patches everything at once. Expecting to do so leads to burnout.
Procrastination: Waiting until you can do it “perfectly” means it never gets done.
Fragility: Perfection breaks under stress; persistence adapts.

Why Persistence Wins

Consistency compounds. One small patch today, another tomorrow, adds up to systemic strength.
Resilience under pressure. When incidents occur, teams that have developed daily habits respond more quickly.
Adaptability. Persistence isn’t rigid; it bends, adjusts, and continues forward.

The Martial Arts Parallel

Martial artists don’t achieve mastery through perfection. They drill basics until instinctive, spar, fail, and adapt. Each session is about persistence; the discipline of returning to the mat, working on strikes, footwork, counter-wrestling, etc, etc.

Cybersecurity professionals must do the same. Drill, repeat, refine, and drill some more. That way, when the attacks come, your persistence in training wins the day.

Closing Thought:
Persistence, not perfection, is the key to success. Perfection is unattainable, persistence ensures progress, and tangible results.

The Cloud’s Silent Killer: Misconfigured Defaults

In 2023, a single misstep by a Fortune 500 company left millions of customer records exposed simply by making a storage bucket public. This wasn’t an isolated incident. Misconfigurations like this are now the leading cause of devastating cloud data breaches, costing companies their reputation, customers’ trust, and millions in losses.

When you think of a data breach, you might envision elite hackers executing sophisticated attacks. However, the reality is far more alarming and preventable. Most breaches are the result of basic, avoidable misconfigurations, such as open buckets and overly broad permissions. These are mistakes anyone can make, and attackers are counting on it.

It’s tempting to trust default settings, they feel safe, like the standard path everyone takes. But most cloud defaults are built for quick setup, not lasting security. If you let them go unchecked, you’re leaving the door wide open for disaster.

The Usual Suspects

Let’s talk specifics. Over and over again, these defaults show up in post-mortem reports:

Open storage buckets and blobs: Data storage left publicly accessible, sometimes with read and write permissions wide open. Attackers do not need to guess. They simply scan and find these vulnerabilities.
Overly permissive IAM roles: The infamous *:* permission set (which allows access to all resources), granting far more access than necessary. It only takes one compromised credential to turn this into a complete takeover of the environment.
Unrestricted security groups: Allowing traffic from “anywhere, any time” because it worked during testing… and then nobody locked it down.

These aren’t rare oversights. They’re everywhere, so common that attackers make a living scanning the internet for them. If you don’t fix them, it’s only a matter of time before someone else finds them first.

Why Defaults Are So Dangerous

They lure you into a false sense of security, making you believe all is well until it’s far too late.
Teams assume that “default” means “safe enough.” But in reality, cloud vendors prioritize usability over airtight security.
They scale the wrong way.
What seems harmless in one instance becomes catastrophic when duplicated across dozens of accounts, regions, and services.
They’re hard to spot once deployed.
Without deliberate reviews, defaults blend into the noise. They look “normal,” even when they’re wide open.

Breaking the Cycle

So how do you stop defaults from turning into disasters?

Audit your configurations against standards. Frameworks like CIS Benchmarks exist for a reason. They help ensure your usual settings are not leaving the door wide open.
Enforce least privilege from the start. Treat it as your default stance. Add access only when necessary, and remove it just as quickly.
Build guardrails into Infrastructure as Code. With tools like Terraform, CloudFormation, or ARM templates (methods for defining infrastructure settings in code), you can embed security policies that prevent dangerous defaults from being introduced unnoticed.
Automate reviews and alerts. Cloud-native tools (such as AWS Config, Azure Policy, or GCP Security Command Center services) and third-party scanners can flag risky defaults before attackers do.

The Martial Arts Parallel

In martial arts, the stance you start with can determine the fight. A weak stance means you begin off balance before your opponent moves.

Cloud defaults work the same way. If you start with insecure settings, attackers already have the upper hand before you realize there’s a problem.

Closing Thoughts

The cloud makes it easy to move quickly, but speed without careful planning can be risky. Default settings may save you time, but they also make things much easier for attackers. Cloud security is not about dramatic battles or brilliant hackers. It is about consistently following basic best practices. Never assume that default means secure. Take responsibility and set your own standards.

Don’t wait for a wake-up call. Spend just 30 minutes this week: review one bucket, one IAM role, and one security group. Fix even a single misconfiguration. Share what you learn with your team. Every small action strengthens your cloud’s defenses and protects what matters most: your customers, your business, and your reputation.

Fueling Your Cybersecurity: How To Eat Right for Cyber Success

A Beginner’s Guide For Eating to Shed Fat, Revive Your Metabolism, and Sharpen Daily Performance.

Cybersecurity incidents don’t care how well you slept or ate. They happen anytime. If your body feels slow, your mind will too.

That’s why nutrition isn’t just about physique or gym numbers. It’s about resilience.

A strong body fuels a sharp mind, which makes you a stronger IT professional.

Before jumping in, you might ask: how do you build nutrition habits that fuel performance, even under pressure? Let’s break it down with these five rules:

Rule #1: Always Eat Protein First

If there’s one macro nutrient that changes everything, it’s protein. Most people under-eat it, even those who train.

Why it matters: Protein saves muscle, keeps you full longer, and helps your body burn more calories.
Aim for .75 to 1g per pound of lean or target body weight. Spread it across meals: eggs at breakfast, chicken or beef at lunch, fish at dinner, or a shake if needed.

Think of protein like a system update: without it, your body gradually weakens until you notice it, and by then it’s too late.

Rule #2: Drink this down deep into your SOUL – Carbs are NOT The Enemy

Carbs, like protein, provide 4 calories per gram.

Carbs get demonized needlessly. If you train hard, they’re your gas pedal—not optional.

Performance: Carbs fuel high-intensity efforts (CrossFit, sprints, heavy lifts). They refill glycogen so your “engine” doesn’t sputter.
Focus: Complex carbs—including all fruits, vegetables, and grains like rice—keep blood sugar steady. That means steady energy and fewer crashes.

The key isn’t cutting carbs. What matters is eating quality carbs at the right times.

Hard training days? Eat more.
Recovery days? Dial it back a bit.

Rule #3: Fats – The Slow-Burn Energy Source

Fats do not give quick energy like carbs, but they help you last longer. Fats are essential for hormone production, brain function, and recovery.

Prioritize avocados, nuts, olive oil, walnut oil, and sesame oil, as well as grass-fed, wild-caught and free-range meats.

Most people do well with 20–30% of their calories from fat. That’s enough for health but not too much.

Rule #4: Hydration = Cognitive Uptime

Mild dehydration tanks focus faster than hunger. For IT pros, that’s dangerous.

Target: ½ gallon per day minimum.
Use electrolytes during long training or extended incident calls.

Think of hydration as uptime. Skip it, and your system crashes.

Rule #5: Structure Beats Willpower, Every Time

No one does well by guessing. Like securing a system, lasting results come from discipline and routine.

Meal prep → Simple, repeatable meals built ahead of time.
Macro targets: track for a few weeks until you get the feel.
Boundaries: Sleep, fuel, and downtime are mandatory security controls.

The goal is not perfection; it’s persistence. Remember, chasing perfection can actually slow your progress. Aim for 80 to 90 percent consistency for the best results.

Closing Thoughts

Nutrition is about training, discipline, and resilience, and it all starts with each meal.

Forget fad diets, quick fixes, and guilt. Focus on what helps you daily: sufficient protein, good carbs, healthy fats, water, and sticking to a plan that eliminates guesswork.

Anyone with a strong body and sharp mind doesn’t just survive the grind; they thrive in it.

Soon, I’ll show you how to build simple, sustainable meal prep systems. You can protect your body and mind just like you protect your network: with structure and planning.

Remember: your body is your first line of defense. Fuel it like YOU matter.

Training the Body, Training the Mind: Why Security Pros Need Both

When most people think about cybersecurity, they picture glowing screens, rapid typing, “hacking” and maybe a hoodie or two. What they don’t picture is chalk & barbells, sprint intervals, sparring mats or even walking.

But here’s the truth: the body and the mind aren’t separate operating systems. They have a symbiotic relationship. The stronger one becomes, the more resilient the other gets. And in a field like cybersecurity, where pressure is high, hours are unpredictable, and the stakes have real-life impact, that resilience makes all the difference.

Stress Management

No breach ever times itself for your convenience. Alerts fire off at 2 a.m whether youre trying to sleep or not. It doesn’t matter if your judgment is foggy and your nerves are already frayed. Mistakes made in those moments don’t just cost hours, they can cost you and your clients millions.

Physical training is rehearsal for that kind of pressure. Every time you push your heart rate into the red zone, whether it’s during a sprint, a lift, or a round of sparring, you’re training your nervous system to stay sharp and composed. You’ve practiced breathing through discomfort. You’ve felt the panic rising and learned not to flinch.

That calm under physical stress translates directly into composure under digital fire.

Discipline & Consistency

You don’t get strong by lifting once a month. You don’t become a skilled defender by reading one book or passing one certification.

Strength and security are both built on repetition. Small daily habits, squats and deadlifts, daily log reviews, routine key rotations and hardwired discipline.

Discipline isn’t glamorous. Nobody applauds your Tuesday-night study session or your Sunday meal prep. But that quiet consistency is what separates those who dabble from those who attain mastery.

Recovery Matters

Burnout wrecks the mind. Overtraining wrecks the body. And yet in both the gym and SOC, too many people wear exhaustion like a badge of honor.

The best of the best know better. They respect recovery. They take deload weeks. They do their best to sleep 8 hours a night. They understand that stress plus rest equals growth. Without rest, stress is just destruction.

Security pros need the same rhythm. Downtime, sleep, and boundaries. They’re not luxuries, they’re daily essentials. A fried analyst is a liability, not a hero.

Confidence Under Pressure

Just like any APT or other malicious actor, the iron doesn’t care how you feel today. The sparring partner doesn’t care if you’re tired. They test you anyway. No matter how tired you are that day, the weight still weighs the same.

That pressure teaches confidence. You must feel what it’s like to fail a lift, get winded mid-round, or be pushed beyond what you thought you could handle to know that you can. Only then you’ll learn you can stay composed, reset, and respond decisively.

That kind of grounded confidence is exactly what’s needed in the middle of a high-stakes incident response, defending your infrastructure under scrutiny, or having to brief leadership with incomplete information. It’s not bravado, it’s composure forged under fire.

The Long Game

Neither training nor cybersecurity has a finish line. You’re never “done.”

Martial arts teach that a black belt isn’t an end state, it’s proof that you’ve mastered the basics and are ready to start again at a higher level. Security works the same way. Every new CVE, every new framework, every new technology is another layer, not the final one.

The goal isn’t perfection, it’s persistence. The discipline to keep showing up, stacking reps, and sharpening your resilience over time is what it takes.

Closing Thoughts

A strong body fuels a sharp mind. A sharp mind makes a stronger defender. Separate them, and you limit yourself. Train both, and you’ll be prepared for whatever comes your way — whether it’s on the mat, under the bar, or in the middle of a 2 a.m. incident call.

Next up, I’ll dive into practical ways to sharpen your eating habits — how to drop body fat, boost metabolic health, and fuel both physical and mental performance.

Top 5 Cybersecurity Mistakes I See Every Week (and How to Fix Them)

Cybersecurity isn’t rocket science — but it does demand discipline. In my work, I see the same mistakes over and over again. They’re simple, preventable, and costly. The good news? They’re also fixable.

Here are the top five offenders and how to get ahead of them.

1. Weak or Reused Passwords

mike epps, top flight security, friday after next

The problem: People still lean on “123456” or reuse the same password across 10 accounts. Attackers love this.
The fix: Use a password manager and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) everywhere it’s offered.

2. Ignoring Updates and Patches

The problem: That little “remind me later” button gets clicked… and suddenly, a known vulnerability is wide open for weeks.

The fix: Automate updates where possible. For servers and enterprise systems, schedule a patch management routine — monthly at minimum.

3. Cloud Misconfigurations

The problem: Buckets, blobs, and databases left wide open to the internet. It’s not just bad practice — it’s a breach waiting to happen.
The fix: Review permissions regularly. Use least privilege access. Run configuration scans against frameworks like CIS Benchmarks.

4. Phishing Clicks

who's got your six? matt shannon security pro

The problem: A single click on a fake invoice or “urgent” email can compromise a network. It still works because people are busy and distracted.
The fix: Train employees continuously, not just once a year. Teach them to hover over links, verify senders, and report suspicious emails.

5. Lack of Logging and Monitoring

The problem: Breaches often go undetected for weeks because no one’s watching the logs.
The fix: Centralize your logging (think SIEM, EDR, or even cloud-native tools) and set alerts for suspicious activity. Logs don’t stop attacks — but they stop you from being blind.

Closing Thoughts

Most breaches don’t happen because hackers are “geniuses.” They happen because of simple mistakes left unchecked. Fix these five, and you’ll already be ahead of most organizations out there.

Cybersecurity, like martial arts, comes down to repetition and discipline. Drill the basics until they’re second nature — that’s how you win the fight you never wanted.

Discover & Fingerprint: Nmap flags you should actually know (and when to use them)

Discovery and fingerprinting are where recon stops being guesswork and starts being a map. Over the next few weeks I’ll dig into Nmap and other recon tools — for now, here’s a compact, practical list of Nmap switches worth committing to memory for pentesting exams and real-world ops. Don’t just memorize the letters — learn the purpose and the use case.

Quick legal note: Only scan systems you own or have explicit permission to test. Unauthorized scanning can be illegal and definitely burns bridges.

Basic target input / listing

nmap -iL targets.txt
Scan targets from a file. Use when you have a long list to automate.
nmap -iR 100
Scan 100 random hosts. Good for practice/learning about global scanning patterns in a lab.
nmap 192.168.1.10 -sL
List-only — no probes. Use to verify target resolution without touching ports.

Host discovery vs port scan

nmap 192.168.1.1/24 -sn
Ping/host discovery only (no port scan). Fast way to find live hosts on a subnet.
nmap 192.168.1.1-5 -Pn
Skip host discovery (treat hosts as up). Useful when ICMP/ARP are blocked but you still want to try ports.

Port specification

nmap 192.168.1.1 -p 21
Scan a single port (FTP, in this example).
nmap 192.168.1.1 -p 21-100
Scan a specific port range. Use when you want targeted scanning (faster than full 65k).

Service & OS fingerprinting

nmap 192.168.1.1 -sV
Service/version detection. Helps identify vulnerable versions (e.g., out-of-date FTP/SSH).
nmap 192.168.1.1 -O
Remote OS detection (TCP/IP stack fingerprinting). Useful when you need OS-level attack vectors.
nmap 192.168.1.1 -A
Aggressive: OS detection + version detection + scripts + traceroute. Good for a quick, deep look — loud and obvious on the network.

Timing / IDS evasion

Timing templates adjust scan speed and stealth. Choose based on network reliability and detection risk.

-T0 Paranoid — ultra-slow. Used to evade IDS or noisy logging systems.
-T1 Sneaky — very slow.
-T2 Polite — slows scans to reduce bandwidth/impact on target.
-T3 Normal — default.
-T4 Aggressive — faster, assumes stable network.
-T5 Insane — very fast; only on extremely reliable links or internal lab networks.

Memory tricks & practical tips

I/O flags: -iL = Input List. File-based scanning automation.
List-only: -sL — “List targets only.” No probing.
Host discovery: -sn = scan no ports (ping only).
Skip discovery: -Pn = treat hosts as Up (No ping).
Service info: -sV for service Version, -O for OS.
One-shot vs range: -p 21 vs -p 21-100. Single vs range.
Aggressive -A = one-shot deep recon; loud but thorough.
Timing -T# = speed vs stealth. 0 is slowest/most stealthy; 5 fastest.

Mini workflows (real use-cases)

Quick inventory on a subnet:
nmap 10.0.0.0/24 -sn → find live hosts, then nmap -sV -p 22,80,443 <host> for details.
When ICMP blocked:
nmap -Pn -p 1-1000 <host> → skip discovery, probe ports directly.
Stealth check in an IDS lab:
nmap -T1 -sV <host> → slow timing to reduce IDS noise.
Full noisy recon in a lab environment:
nmap -A -T4 <target> → quick comprehensive view.

Closing — don’t memorize blindly

The exam question isn’t “what flag is X” — it’s “which flag solves this problem.” Memorize the purpose and practice applying them in labs. Over the coming weeks I’ll publish deeper examples for each of these switches, show script usage, and map Nmap output to real exploitation workflows.