Mason Tuckett

Cyber Analyst • Information System Security Officer (ISSO)

Download GPG Key83A3 C07C 1C7D 8B6D 4A4A  781D 7155 6DFD B495 ACB7

Summary

Cybersecurity professional and ISSO contractor supporting AFNWC/MMIII sustainment for the Department of the Air Force.

Focused on RMF, A&A documentation, security control evidence, POA&M tracking, STIG/SRG compliance, vulnerability management, and information system security requirements for mission-critical defense environments.

Skilled in information security, systems administration, Linux, networking, virtualization, firewalling, secure web infrastructure, and cybersecurity instruction.

Qualified for: IAT III, IAM II, IASAE II, CSSP Analyst, CSSP Infrastructure Support, CSSP Incident Responder, and CSSP Auditor roles.

Experience

Cyber Analyst/Information System Security Officer (ISSO)

BAE Systems, Inc.
March, 2026 – Present

  • Supported AFNWC/MMIII sustainment as an Information System Security Officer (ISSO), advising on security requirements for sensitive information processed, stored, and transmitted by program systems.
  • Assisted with RMF activities aligned to NIST SP 800-53, including A&A support, security documentation, control evidence, compliance artifacts, program security plans, policies, procedures, and configuration management records.
  • Supported vulnerability/risk management, POA&M tracking, audit support, anomaly investigation, incident response coordination, corrective action tracking, and information security awareness efforts.

Community Educator

Davis School District
January, 2026 – February, 2026

  • Independently developed and instructed hands-on, practical, weekly courses spanning: cybersecurity, computer networking, ethical hacking, Linux administration, Python programming, and web development.
  • Partnered with district curriculum coordinators to structure courses around pertinent, underrepresented, high-impact, desired content areas.
  • Collaborated with the district IT department to ensure courses were within policy and legal and ethical responsibilities were upheld.

Teacher Assistant

Davis School District
October, 2025 – February, 2026

  • Conducted and prepared daily SIPPS lessons (Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words) to grades 1–5—improving literacy, fluency, and decoding acquisition.
  • Utilized Acadience assessments to track and monitor student progress—adjusting pacing and reading intervention methodology.
  • Facilitated small-group instruction for rounds of 5–10 students—maintaining engagement through positive reinforcement techniques and structured reading routines.

Ken Garff Esports — Summer Tech Track Mentorship

Success in Education
May, 2025 – June, 2025

  • Instructed students (grades 7–12) in foundational cybersecurity utilizing the CyberPatriot curriculum, resulting in increased student confidence and performance in computer science.
  • Facilitated hands-on game development projects that improved students’ understanding of logic, design thinking, and collaborative problem-solving.
  • Collaboratively designed and implemented curriculum materials, including PowerPoints, Kahoots, interactive activities, and icebreakers—that enhanced student participation and learning outcomes.

Skills

  • Security & Compliance: RMF, NIST 800-53 Rev. 5, A&A Support, POA&Ms, eMASS, STIGs/SRGs, Tenable Nessus
  • Systems: AWS, Proxmox, VMWare ESXi, RHEL, Podman/Docker, Active Directory, Windows Enterprise
  • Cloud & Networking: AWS VPC, Cisco IOS/Meraki, SD-WAN, MPLS, BGP, RIP, OSPF, VXLAN, VLAN, DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP
  • Professional: Problem Solving, Troubleshooting, Collaboration, Curriculum Development, Technical Instruction

Education

MS, Cybersecurity and Information Assurance

Western Governors University
February, 2026 – August, 2026

BS, Cybersecurity and Network Management

Weber State University
August, 2022 – August, 2025

AAS, Cybersecurity and Network Management

Weber State University
August, 2022 – August, 2025

AS, General Studies

Weber State University
August, 2022 – August, 2025

HS Diploma

Davis Connect 7-12
May, 2022

Certifications

Professional Certifications

Educational Certificates

Projects

Home Lab — Proxmox Virtual Environment

  • Deployed OPNsense as the primary edge router and firewall, configuring VLAN segmentation, RFC1918 subnetting, DHCP scopes, NAT (SNAT/DNAT), DNS forwarding, and rule-based inter-VLAN access control.
  • Built a Proxmox virtualization environment using KVM virtual machines and LXC containers to host lab systems, infrastructure services, and security tooling with managed resource allocation, backups, and snapshot-based rollback.
  • Implemented strict firewall baselines in OPNsense to limit east-west traffic between VLANs, restrict management-plane access, and enforce service-specific allow rules.
  • Created a SOC lab using Kali Linux, Windows targets, and Wazuh to simulate vulnerability assessment, endpoint monitoring, alert generation, log collection, and detection workflows.
  • Configured attribute-based WireGuard tunnels to securely route selected self-hosted service traffic through a VPS reverse proxy, with TLS 1.2/1.3 termination and hardened Nginx proxy configuration.

Web Hosting — RHEL VPC

  • Deployed a hardened RHEL-based VPC/VPS environment using Podman rootless containers, Firewalld zones, SELinux enforcing mode, and least-privilege service isolation for public web, Tor/I2P, and supporting services.
  • Implemented a strict network security baseline with default-deny inbound policy, IPSet-based geoblocking, tightly scoped Firewalld rich rules, non-standard IP-bound SSH access, and localhost-only Tor service binding.
  • Hardened Nginx with TLS 1.2/1.3, strong AEAD cipher suites, HSTS, restrictive CAA records, DNSSEC, HTTP method restrictions, rate limiting, header size limits, and security-focused response headers.
  • Applied RHEL system hardening through sysctl tuning, unused kernel protocol/module blacklisting, SELinux policy enforcement, application confinement, Journald log review, and service-specific attack-surface reduction.
  • Established a verifiable trust chain using mirrored GPG public keys, signed darknet mirror statements, SHA-512 checksum proofs, DNS TXT validation records, and a public GitHub mirror for independent verification.

Highlights