It's been more than 2 weeks since the completion of my internship at eProcess Consulting Ltd for my SIWES, and all I can say is it's been an amazing one. I decided to write this article mostly because of personal documentation (lol 😄), but also because I want to share some of the skills and knowledge I gained as a Cybersecurity Engineer intern, as well as the lessons I learned.
Firstly, I would like to thank God for strength, wisdom, and helping me out in every single way possible to complete this as well as gain experience and earn some certifications, thank you, Jesus! Without You, all this wouldn't have been possible.
I'd like to also thank my parents, Olaniran and Bolanle Fafowora (Daddy & Mama), for constantly supporting me and always doing their best to make sure I have a suitable environment to learn and live comfortably, love you, Sir & Madam! Thank you!
I'd also like to give thank the CEO of eProcess Consulting Ltd, Segun Ajala, for allowing me to intern and work at eProcess, the CTO, Segun Rufai, and the CFO, Femi Odunsanya for being an awesome HR manager and constantly showing care and attention to whatever issue I brought to him.
Genesis
Over 6 months ago, I joined eProcess Consulting Ltd as a Cybersecurity Engineer intern, and trust me, I didn't know much about the field, I was just willing to learn and explore a new aspect of technology because I love all things tech. I was just intrigued with the idea of defending cyberattacks or battling with "hackers". I had 6 months to go from a neophyte to at least a decent Cybersecurity Engineer. So I started my learning and work on the first day, lol.
On my second day, I pasted some motivational sticky notes on my office desk to keep me going even when I feel tired or stressed. One I particularly remember, "Sic Parvis Magna", which means "Greatness from small beginnings".
I love this so much cause it always reminded me that all my goals could be accomplished from little knowledge, it reminded me that I had a destination no matter how small I started. This was one of the many motivations that kept pushing me and reminding me not to give up.
Internship Summary
During my first month, I was placed in the Sophos team to assist with support on endpoint protection, network security, email security, and unified threat management. I had no idea what all these were at the time, so Miss Lola helped out with explaining and leading me on how to use Sophos, providing the necessary resources I needed to get started (thank you! 😊).
This was around the same time I started observing Sophos support sessions and then was given the opportunity to help out with a support session, my very first one I could help with (whoop! whoop! 😁). I was nervous though, but Motunranyo (a senior colleague) made the whole process and many other ones A LOT easier.
For me, I feel very uncomfortable not being able to help out or feel relevant to any team I'm in, it's the worst feeling really, so this opportunity was big for me and I was really glad I could help out.
Nothing good comes easy
My first month was decent, I learned a whole lot about cybersecurity and assisted with a Sophos support session for a company. But, my second month was a different story.
During my second month, annoyingly my phone and all my cash were stolen on my way to work. My whole week was ruined!
But, with tremendous support from my parents, and love from my friends and colleagues, I was able to pull through. I thank God for you all in my life, especially my parents, love you all!
Still, I was able to assist with a security product's deployment for The Place, learn about various types of malware (trojans, bots, ransomware, etc.), and use that knowledge in an article, assist with Sophos support for a company, learn numerous cybersecurity concepts and topics (DLP systems, Open-Source Intelligence, cybersecurity risks ([financial, operational, strategic, etc.], etc.) and earn a certificate as a Sophos XDR Admin all in my second month.
I reminded myself now and then that I had a destination in mind, a goal, I had to remain focused no matter any difficult circumstance that came my way, and because of that, I still kept working towards it.
In my third month, I assisted Security Engineers to finish deployment for The Place, learned about vulnerability management, assisted the team with support for Xpress Payments, and transitioned to join the CIMTRAK & Fortisoar team (whoop whoop!). The team lead was friendly and very welcoming, I felt I could always meet him for any challenge I was facing concerning the products we were using or any question I had on cybersecurity.
I believe this strongly falls back on the company's great culture because actions like that are strongly encouraged and practiced there often.
I also really loved helping out with any programming-related issue any team had as I wanted to use any skill I had to help my colleagues and the company.
My third month was also great, as much as I loved providing support on Sophos for different customers, I wanted to experience a different environment and know more about how to use different tools to protect confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our customers sensitive information and property.
I moved to the CIMTRAK & Fortisoar team for the remainder of my internship during this time.
Second Half
During my fourth month, I learned about CIMTRAK, a file integrity monitoring, and compliance software application, its installation process, the dashboard functions, and its use cases. I started observing and assisting with CIMTRAK deployment sessions and learned about more Cybersecurity topics and concepts. I also helped make multiple RJ-45 cables with other interns.
Finally, in my fifth and sixth months, I was able to assist with several deployment sessions for First Bank.
In between this time, the CTO (one of the best leaders I've met, I'll keep saying it boss lol), asked me to research, and present the topic Blockchain Technology, explaining its history, concept, algorithm, and use cases. I was given 2 weeks to prepare everything and present it to the whole company which was super exciting.
Unfortunately, my laptop's motherboard and the fan got bad during the final week of preparation, and I was left with nothing to use to prepare.
But, that didn't stop me from completing it. The next day I decided to remove the hard drive and place it in my Mum's system, pending the time I could afford to buy a new one.
Thankfully, 2 days after that, my Dad and Aunt helped me out with a new PC and I was able to use that to finish up a day before my presentation day, which was accepted and received great feedback from my colleagues all around!
Also, during my last two months at eProcess Consulting, I was able to learn about PKI, certificate authorities, Digital certificates, and more.
Last day
Fortinet bag
Farewall cake
Nike shoes
I'm the kind of person who enjoys giving way more than receiving, so I was planning on making a short video of appreciation and sending it to everyone in the company on the last day of my internship. That's the reason why I was shocked by the awesome gifts I received from everyone at the company. You guys are so incredible! From the bottom of my heart, I love you all!
Lessons learned
Aside from the skills I gained, including Cybersecurity, Network Security, IT Security Core concepts, using Network and endpoint protection security tools and products like Sophos, file integrity monitoring, and compliance systems for enterprises like CIMTRAK, as well as improving my public speaking skills, I've learned quite a few lessons throughout my stay at eProcess Consulting.
These lessons are:
- Always be willing to learn
- Being resourceful can help you think independently and tackle new challenges that come your way.
- Be friendly and network with everyone, even if you're not on the same team, it helps foster a good relationship with all your colleagues who may turn into best of friends or mentors.
- How to adapt to a new team
- Develop a "can do" attitude, instead of saying "I can't", even if you don't know at the moment, offer to do research and get back with results. Nobody is a mountain or sea of knowledge, we all learn every day.
What next?
My experience at eProcess was spectacular, I'm super glad I met people like Mr Segun Rufai, I'd miss our talks on the way home and sharing my ideas with you, Lekan and Chuks, my amazing mentors, Niyi Fasanmoye, a really good and honest friend, one of my closest ones, Toun, Faith, Motunrayo, Samira, Chika, and everyone I met that influenced me positively at eProcess Consulting.
I currently have solid foundations in Cybersecurity as well as 3 professional certificates, and experience in the field, I'll definitely keep practicing and studying more on my own and improving myself any way I can. My experience with eProcess Consulting was crucial to my development and growth, I'll take all the lessons I learned here and apply them to my next position.
Disclaimer: This is a summary of my internship experience throughout my 6-month internship. I might miss out on some details or names cause if I was to include every detail, then this article won't be done in 2 weeks and would probably be longer than a 30 minutes article (lol).
I still love and appreciate every one of you as you've influenced me positively!
Thank you all for reading this article! I really hope you enjoyed it! 💛
