Nicolas Southern
Nicolas Southern

Application Security Practitioner

15+ years across secure software development, regulated gaming, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and production engineering. I perform advanced source code review, identify exploitable vulnerabilities, and help teams build secure-by-design applications.

Credentials & Experience

Application security, offensive security certifications, and hands-on technical leadership

OSWE

OffSec Web Expert — white-box web exploitation

OSCP+

OffSec Certified Professional

OSWP

OffSec Wireless Professional

eJPT

Junior Penetration Tester

Commercial Pilot

FAA-licensed pilot

Experience

Application security and technical leadership in regulated gaming and distributed systems

Vice President — IT OperationsHighland Consulting

2011 – Present · Austin, TX

dba New Market Entertainment, eTabs Inc., Manatee Bingo, and VSweeps

Cybersecurity, Infrastructure & Technical

  • Led application security, cybersecurity, secure software development, infrastructure, and technical operations across regulated gaming, cloud systems, distributed field environments, and internally developed applications.
  • Performed secure code review and OWASP-based web application testing, white-box and black-box assessments, and secure SDLC practices including threat modeling, CI/CD security checks, and production hardening.
  • Built and maintained cloud-connected systems for telemetry, accounting, analytics, reporting, deployment automation, and application monitoring.
  • Monitored SIEM/ELK-style security telemetry, investigated suspicious activity, triaged alerts, and implemented remediations across distributed environments.
  • Built and supported market-specific applications, including a Unity-based electronic pull-tab platform tailored to Florida statutory requirements that generated over seven figures in revenue.
  • Partnered with regulators, operators, customers, vendors, and internal stakeholders to align systems and operations with licensing, compliance, security, and business requirements.

Prior Experience — Culinary

Sous Chef — Baylor Club

Aug 2014 – Jun 2015

Opening-team sous chef at a high-volume club and event operation at McLane Stadium. Led private events for up to 1,000 guests, supervised 20–30 staff, and managed alumni dining room operations during football season.

Sous Chef — Hotel Indigo Waco — Baylor

Apr 2013 – Aug 2014

Managed day-to-day hotel kitchen operations, dinner service, and private events. Supervised kitchen staff and improved consistency through recipe standardization and operational discipline.

Cyber

Security tooling, labs, and practical research built around authorized testing workflows.

WireGuardOpenSearchSysmonTerraform

Lockhaven

Private networking and secure access control for distributed infrastructure and remote devices.

View tool
PythonRequestsNext.jsReact

API Griffer

Lightweight API route discovery for authorized security testing and lab environments.

View tool
OSWEOSCP+OSWP

Certification Prep

Study approaches, practice resources, and lessons learned from cybersecurity certification prep.

View prep notes

Writing

Notes on gaming technology, systems, operations, and infrastructure