About Me

Hey there, I’m Frank (he/him/they).

At the desk: I’m a Business Information Security Officer, or “BISO”, serving as a bridge between our security and operations organizations. My experience has largely been on the GRC side of cybersecurity, with dalliances in M&A and threat modeling. I’ve found I’m not great at the actual hands on keyboard engineering and hacking sides of security, but I grok and communicate the technical, business, risk facets such that I fit well in “bridge” roles between organizations.

Away from the desk:

  • I’m trying to foster the hacker mindset in one tiny human.
  • I’m a mediocre runner, 5k being my preferred distance, and help maintain a running Meetup group in Chicago.
  • I enjoy games; video, tabletop, the study of game theory. I ran a large Destiny 2 community for several years and have written about that here.
  • I love a good beer or whiskey and will gladly take recommendations.
  • I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, and am now figuring out what/if/how that impacts other parts of my life.
  • I’m a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Arsenal, and Borussia Dortmund; I can sometimes be found amidst the Chicago Gooners.

This Blog is for sharing of things, both found and experienced, both security/GRC and frivolity. I am not a thought leader, I’m not famous on Infosec Twitter Mastodon, but sometimes my ever-ongoing dopamine chase requires writing and I can but hope something appears here that someone might derive value from. Also found here are a running reading and study list, and any conference talks or hands-on extracirriculars in Projects.

If you’re going to consume anything from this site, I recommend that you kick your feet up and grab a drink of your choosing; you’ve probably earned it. If you found something here useful, let me know!

What’s the name mean?

BeerMetalPC was a half-asleep showerthought. You’ve heard of bare metal computers? What about beer metal? 🍺🤘💻. I’ve used other handles for online games over the years, but as I’ve started doing more public and professional interaction, it became clear I needed one more that was at arms length from my gaming activity. Is my personal branding a mess as a result? Yes. 😆

Upcoming Conferences

I try to attend at least one security conference per year. You can see which ones I’ll be at, and whether I’m doing anything more than just attending, (volunteering, speaking, etc.) below. Feel free to say hi if we cross paths!

Blue Team Con

I was a safety volunteer at Blue Team Con 2022, and plan to be volunteering again at Blue Team Con 2023. If you find yourself in Chicago prior to the conference, consider coming out to our local and unrelated infosec meetup: Burbsec East.