About

Who's cyco?

I'm Tony Roy. Most people know me as cyco, short for cycoslave, an IRC handle from the 90s that just never died. Nearly thirty years later, it's still the name on the account.

This site is pure content now: hacking walkthroughs, video write-ups, whatever I'm currently taking apart in the lab. No services, no consulting pitch. Just the work.

From Coder to Hacker

I didn't start in security. I started as a coder, back when "cybersecurity" wasn't really a career path yet. Writing code felt like the safer, more legitimate way to mess with computers than the alternative. Turns out that instinct paid off. Understanding how software actually works underneath is half of what makes hacking make sense.

The Avaya Years

For years I worked as a telecom engineer at Avaya. BCM systems, old Nortel gear, IP Office, eventually the Avaya IQ and Avaya CMS side of contact-center reporting. I spent a stretch on a dev team testing new call-center reporting technology, supporting test customers and sitting in dev meetings that assumed you already knew things nobody explained to you. So I reverse-engineered my way through it. That habit, pulling systems apart until they make sense, never really left.

2019: Back Into Security

CEHv9 training with Daniel Lowrie on ITProTV was the pivot. That's the year cybersecurity stopped being a side interest and became the thing I actually did. Since then I've been a HackTheBox ambassador, and I currently sit in the top 1% on TryHackMe, top 20 in Canada. Most of what ends up on this site traces back to that grind.

Certs and What's Next

I recently earned CompTIA Network Vulnerability Assessment Professional (CNVAP) status by completing Pentest+. CISSP is next, I'm studying for it now. CySA+ is on the schedule for late 2027, which rounds out the CompTIA Network Security Professional (CNSP) designation.

If you're into hacking walkthroughs, pentest write-ups, or just want to watch someone reverse-engineer their way through a box, you're in the right place.