I’m Andreas Happe
I care about Security.

From coding..
My developer life started at 14 when I enrolled at theHTL Villach with a focus on IT. In those five years I learned to code: Assembler, C, C++, COBOL, and that new thing: Java. I continued the path at the Technical University of Vienna, eventually earning my Master's Degree in Software Engineering.

In parallel to my studies, I started to work at the Austrian Institue of Technology (AIT), initially as part of a EU FP2 Project on Quantum Key Distribution, later mostly on EU Horizon 2020 projects focusing on secure data storage andidentity management in the cloud.

.. to hacking, ..
In late 2012, a friend asked me to help out in their pen-testing company. I initially declined. Lured in by the offer of free coffee, I visited their office and thus began my hacking career. Over the next six years, I alternated between engineering (AIT) and pen-testing until, in 2018, hacking won and I became a full-time pen-tester.

Not forgetting my roots, over time I became more and more involved in AppSec, Developer Trainings, and consulting roles.

.. but still caring.
'Only' hacking feels unfulfilling: while pwning systems is fun, there must be a more constructive side to security.

To explore this aspect of mine, I taught various security lectures at the FH/Technikum Wien and became an OWASP leader, both for a local chapter (Vienna, then Klagenfurt) and a Project.

This never felt enough. So in 2022, I quit my day job and enrolled in a PhD program at the Technical University of Vienna. My focus lies on using AI/ML for offensive security as well as hackers' decision making processes in general. To finance this, I have become a freelance security consultant accompaning softare devs/companies on their road towards security self-reliance. Secretly I hope to bridge academia and industry through my work.

To see more information about my squiggly journey, see my my CV (github)or checkout my LinkedIn Profile.