Austin Tyler Conn — Full Resume

Summary

Cyber software engineer with 5+ years at Northrop Grumman, designing and delivering software for classified defense programs — including an object-oriented software-defined radio (SDR) payload emulator — alongside development test analysis and test automation. Background also spans IT management and database administration for a precision-instruments manufacturer, and embedded/low-level systems: bare-metal C on microcontrollers, firmware reverse engineering, and processor/ISA tooling, up to Python application and API-client development. Prolific open-source builder with a large portfolio of reverse-engineering tools, IoT device integrations, API-client libraries, and self-hosted infrastructure. Holds an active TS/SCI clearance.

Work History

Northrop Grumman Corporation — Cincinnati, Ohio

Program names and mission specifics omitted; descriptions generalized to releasable technology and skills only.

Cyber Software Engineer 02/2023 – Present

Serve as a software engineer across multiple classified defense programs, with a focus on reverse engineering and low-level/embedded development.
Designed and implemented a software emulator for a software-defined radio (SDR) payload, implementing TCP/UDP and serial communication protocols using object-oriented design (inheritance and polymorphism).
Delivered design and implementation of new product features; contributed to 25+ major customer deliveries across programs over tenure.
Collaborated within program teams and coordinated across multiple teams and programs; mentored and helped onboard teammates.

Associate Cyber Software Engineer 08/2020 – 02/2023

Test-automation engineer across defense programs, using an internal test framework and GitLab CI runners in support of multiple customer deliveries.
Maintained and extended large program-specific automated test suites and GitLab CI pipelines (across multiple runners), and contributed upstream fixes to a shared internal test-framework repository used across programs.
Received a BRAVO award for a rapid, quick-turnaround customer delivery that fulfilled urgent warfighter needs (in support of multiple quick-reaction capabilities / QRCs).
Performed security research and reverse engineering of widely used software and hardware, including GPS and RF technologies and microcontroller-based systems (notably ARM and PowerPC).

Cincinnati Precision Instruments — Cincinnati, Ohio

Information Technology Manager 02/2019 – 05/2020

Managed all IT operations and a $300,000 IT budget, streamlining processes to cut operating costs by $50,000.
Led an IT department of 3 employees, recruiting, hiring, and conducting performance reviews for 2 college co-op / intern positions.
Liaised with vendors and team members to promote ongoing network design; reevaluated and optimized systems and software to scale with company growth.
Analyzed network security and infrastructure, recommending and installing upgrades across 55 workstations.
Performed detailed risk/constraint assessments, identifying 6 major areas of unaccounted risk, and developed mitigation strategies and upgrades.
Built and maintained a production virtualization environment of 12 business-critical virtual machines; streamlined processes using IndySoft and QuickBooks.

Software Developer / Software Engineer 01/2016 – 02/2019

Analyzed, designed, administered, and supported 8 Microsoft SQL databases, including backup and migration strategies, with rigorous pre-deployment testing and post-deployment issue resolution.
Worked directly with clients to establish problem specifications and system designs; collected feedback across planning, development, and release phases and addressed concerns directly.
Designed, built, documented, and tested 28 major internal projects (12 new, 16 existing) using VBScript, C#, Java, Pascal, and Delphi, consistently surpassing client expectations.

Bugaboo Controls — Cincinnati, Ohio

Progressed from Specialist to a senior Foreman role; senior individual contributor rather than people manager.

Control System Specialist → Control Panel Foreman 2013 – 2015

Designed, laid out, machined, assembled, and wired high-voltage industrial control panels across a range of applications — industrial/factory automation, HVAC and building systems, water/utility systems, and custom OEM machine builds.
Programmed and worked hands-on with Allen-Bradley / Rockwell and Siemens programmable logic controllers (PLCs), variable frequency drives (VFDs), and electromechanical and solid-state relay logic.
Consulted with the Engineering Department on discrepancies in dimensions, wiring specifications, panel layout, and incompatible parts prior to manufacture.
Performed load and functionality testing of control panels, documenting all test procedures, corrections, and errors in conformance with Underwriter Laboratories (UL) specifications.

Technical Skills

Programming Languages: Python, C, C++, C#, Java, Assembly, VBScript, Pascal, Delphi (plus shell scripting; JavaScript/TypeScript and Go via open-source work).
Reverse Engineering & Vulnerability Research: Binary and firmware reverse engineering (static and dynamic analysis); Ghidra (custom processor modules, loaders, and scripting); fuzzing / vulnerability discovery (libFuzzer and harness development) and crash triage; custom/proprietary protocol analysis and emulation (TCP/UDP, serial, TDLs). Tooling: Ghidra, Fireflight, TAU, Nmap, Metasploit, OpenVAS, Wireshark, Snort, sguil, libFuzzer, SonarQube.
Processor Architectures / ISAs: Xtensa (incl. ESP32/Tensilica), ARM (32- and 64-bit / AArch64), MIPS, PowerPC.
Embedded & Low-Level: Bare-metal C/C++ on microcontrollers (register-level programming); RTOS-based development; bus and I/O protocols (GPIO, UART/serial, SPI, I2C, TCP/UDP); hardware debug/programming interfaces (JTAG, SWD); firmware extraction and parsing (e.g., ESP32 flash dumps).
Industrial Control Systems (ICS): Allen-Bradley / Rockwell and Siemens programmable logic controllers (PLCs), variable frequency drives (VFDs), electromechanical and solid-state relay logic, high-voltage control-panel design, and UL-conformant panel testing.
SDR / RF & Signals: Software-defined radio payload emulation and integration; SDR hardware (HackRF, RTL-SDR, BladeRF); Universal Radio Hacker (URH) for wireless-protocol reverse engineering.
Databases: Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL), MySQL.
Systems, Networking & DevOps: Ubuntu Server 14.04 and later, macOS 10.8 and later, Windows 7/10/11, Windows Server 2008+, Cisco, GitLab CI runners, Docker, Nginx/reverse proxies, self-hosted infrastructure, virtualization.
Tooling & Other: LaTeX, Git/GitHub, IndySoft, QuickBooks.

Education

University of Cincinnati — Cincinnati, Ohio

Master of Science, Computer Science (May 2025)
Bachelor of Science, Information Technology — Cybersecurity Track (2020)

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College — Cincinnati, Ohio

Associate of Applied Science, Software Engineering

Open-Source & Notable Contributions

Ghidra — Xtensa Processor Support

Developed a Tensilica Xtensa processor module for Ghidra (the architecture behind the ESP8266/ESP32) and contributed it upstream to the NSA's open-source Ghidra project. Xtensa support is now included in Ghidra as of version 11.0.

Upstream PR · Repo

ESP32 / ESP-IDF Reverse-Engineering Toolchain (Ghidra)

Built an integrated suite of tooling for reverse engineering ESP32 firmware in Ghidra — combining the Xtensa processor module, an ESP32 flash-dump loader, a firmware-image parser, a CMSIS-SVD peripheral loader, Ghidra Data Type (GDT) archives, and auto-generated function signatures (Rizzo / FunctionID) derived from ESP-IDF example binaries across IDF versions v2.0–v5.1.

Flash-dump loader · SVD loader · Image parser · GDT archives · Rizzo signatures

Ghidra AI Auto-Analysis Scripts

A set of Ghidra scripts that drive AI-assisted auto-analysis of binaries — automating function identification, labeling, and annotation to speed up reverse-engineering workflows.

Repo

Personal Projects

Flagship — ESP32 / ESP-IDF Reverse-Engineering Toolchain for Ghidra

Built a complete toolchain for reverse engineering ESP32/ESP8266 firmware in Ghidra: a Tensilica Xtensa processor module (register windowing, MAC16, loop options) contributed upstream and now in Ghidra 11.0; an ESP32 flash-dump loader and firmware-image parser; a CMSIS-SVD peripheral loader; Ghidra Data Type (GDT) archives for the ESP-IDF SDK; and auto-generated Rizzo/FunctionID function signatures across IDF v2.0–v5.1.

Xtensa module · Flash-dump loader · Image parser

Highlight — YoLink Smart-Home Reverse Engineering (Case Study)

Self-directed reverse-engineering deep dive into YoLink's ESP32-based smart-home ecosystem. Reverse engineered the hub/gateway and battery-powered LoRa sensors at the firmware level using ESP32 flash extraction, Ghidra static analysis (via the Xtensa/ESP32 toolchain above), and FCC teardown intelligence (YoSmart, FCC ID 2ATM7). Recovered the security keys governing the sensor → hub → ChirpStack (LoRaWAN) data path and mapped device onboarding. YoLink shipped official local control before the project reached that goal, so it stands as a deep technical exercise rather than a released integration.

RE write-up · yolink

Automotive / Embedded

Set up comma.ai openpilot (open-source ADAS / driver-assistance) on a Volkswagen MK6 Golf — hands-on vehicle CAN-bus integration and embedded automotive hacking.

Repo

IoT Device Reverse Engineering & Integration

A range of exploratory projects to reclaim control of consumer devices and their data — kept public for the open-source community rather than actively maintained: Python libraries and bridges for Blink cameras (including a Blink-to-RTSP bridge); tools for Ford (a FordPass widget and a downloader for Ford service manuals); a Node CLI to download VW/Audi erWin service documents (session-auth plus magic-byte file-type detection); and drone photogrammetry work that included reverse engineering the Dronelink protocol used to programmatically control DJI drones.

Blink bridge · Blink library · FordPass widget · Ford manuals · erWin downloader · Dronelink RE

API Client Libraries (Python)

Authored several Python API clients, led by Pynab — a full-featured library for the YNAB (You Need A Budget) API and the most-starred project in the portfolio (~53 stars) — plus clients for Have I Been Pwned, LastPass, CPAP machine data, and voip.ms.

Pynab · Have I Been Pwned · LastPass · CPAP · voip.ms

Software Tools & Automation

AIrganizer — an AI-powered file-organization pipeline that recursively scans files, extracts metadata (EXIF, binwalk, MIME), analyzes each file with the best-fit AI model (OpenAI, Anthropic, or local Ollama), then proposes names, tags, and a hierarchical taxonomy and physically reorganizes the files; features full resumability via a permanent cache, dry-run mode, and privacy-focused local-model support. Also built reusable dev tooling: a Python project template, a GitHub fork-syncer, and Backblaze B2 Docker backups.

AIrganizer · Project template · Fork-syncer · B2 backups

Home Lab & Self-Hosting (software)

Runs a self-hosted software stack — bastion/jump host, Docker with automated image updates and container self-healing, an Nginx reverse-proxy manager, Cloudflare dynamic DNS, self-hosted wiki/docs, task management, and a personal/family medical-record aggregator — plus 3D-printing tooling (image-to-STL generation) and personal-data exporters.

jumpbox · watchtower · docker-autoheal · nginx-proxy-manager · cloudflare-ddns · docmost · tududi · fasten-onprem · AutoForge (3D→STL) · imessage-exporter

Home Lab (Infrastructure)

Containerization — Docker-based environment managed via Portainer.
Networking — Managed networking gear (including WiFi HaLow), network segmentation, and reverse proxies.
Self-hosted services — Docker-based services, backup/restore, DNS, wiki/docs, and monitoring.
Electronics bench — Hardware-hacking / embedded workbench (soldering, debug and analysis gear) supporting firmware and IoT reverse-engineering work.

Volunteer & Awards

Ohio Cyber Reserve (OhCR) — Southwest Ohio Region

02/2020 – 08/2021
08/2022 – 11/2023

BRAVO Award (Northrop Grumman)

For a rapid, quick-turnaround customer delivery that fulfilled urgent warfighter needs (in support of multiple quick-reaction capabilities / QRCs).

Interests

Hardware and electronics (embedded tinkering, hardware hacking, home-lab bench work); automotive (openpilot / driver-assistance, VW and Ford tinkering, CAN-bus hacking); home automation and self-hosting (DIY IoT and reclaiming devices/data from vendor clouds); 3D printing and making.