Christopher Lyons

Christopher “Topher” Lyons was born in Las Vegas, NV where he also currently resides. Throughout school he was always fascinated by technology and was the one who often fixed other’s computers and devices. After school, he started work in hospitality management and as a stage actor. However, he found that to be stagnant and wanted to do something to challenge himself. He then joined the Air Force and served for nearly 12 years. Beginning his career as a network engineer at Grand Forks AFB, he would soon be selected to be a cyber warfare operator. That took him to being a member of the Air Force Red Team for nearly 4 years and then on a special assignment for another 4 where he was exposed to cyber warfare, intelligence and concepts at the highest levels.

He currently holds two associate’s degrees (in electronic systems and cybersecurity) and a bachelor’s (in network engineering and security). Additionally, he is currently working on his master’s degree in cybersecurity. Along with his degrees, he holds 16 certifications in varying disciplines, but primarily in networking and offensive security. He would someday like to achieve the OSEE and CCIE certifications.

Topher saw Forge Institute as an excellent opportunity to network and give back to other vets who are interested in the cybersecurity field. At Forge, Topher was assigned to the Emerging Threat Center as the technical lead, mentored other fellows, and developed and provided classes on general IT, security concepts, and programming. Also for Forge, Topher wrote a program called Ocelot that takes threat indicators and organizes publically available intelligence on them. Finally, he also had the opportunity to present on Cybersecurity Basics to the Central Arkansas Library System as part of their lecture series.

Topher’s next steps involve a career as a Senior Engineer at Huntress Labs while also creating cybersecurity content and lessons. He is also looking forward to spending time on his hobbies which include language learning, history, art, stage and voice acting, historical European martial arts, math, physics, hiking, and horticulture.

Forge Fellow