Cybersecurity and Jason Zhang’s Passion for Keeping People Safe in an Insecure World

by Marcelle Santos

Five minutes into our Zoom call, a tiny human climbed onto Jason Zhang’s lap and waved at the screen. “This is Avery,” he said. “She’s 23 months old.” 

When Avery turns two, Zhang will be six months from completing the Align Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS) at Northeastern University in Silicon Valley and one month from starting his career in cybersecurity.

His daughter is one of the reasons why he’s decided to devote himself to keeping systems and networks safe. “We’re living in an insecure world,” he said. “I want to secure the people around me.”

“It changed how I view software development”

IT security wasn’t Zhang’s focus when he first enrolled in the Align MSCS program; he stumbled onto it while playing with Wireshark, a network packet capture tool that enables developers to capture, interpret, filter, and inspect network traffic. “[With Wireshark] you can see what’s going on in really low-level computer science. If you type a password and don’t encrypt it, you might see it.”

At the time, he was developing a web application that used multiple APIs and decided to run Wireshark on it. To his surprise, all the API tokens on it were exposed. “That meant that anyone who used my application, if I were to release it, could capture those tokens on their browser or devices if they had the knowledge to do it,” he explained.

Becoming aware of the vulnerabilities in his code and the many ways they could be exploited was a turning point for him. “It changed how I view software development,” he said. He decided cybersecurity was too “intriguing and alarming” to ignore.

Finding mentors

Since then, Zhang has been designing his own path to a career in cybersecurity. In addition to connecting with cybersecurity specialists across Northeastern University’s global campus network, he’s attended multiple conferences, taken advanced courses, and shared what he’s learned as a volunteer instructor. 

But mentorship is what’s proved most invaluable in his journey so far. His mentors, who work in both startups and big tech companies, have been instrumental in helping him understand how cybersecurity teams work and “what a mature security posture within a company looks like.” 

How did he find them? It began with one single connection. “I put myself out there for any opportunities related to security and met someone I felt I really needed to learn from.” That person became his first mentor. 

Later, as he realized how broad information security was, he sought mentors in other areas — and found that most people he contacted were willing to help. “People in security are welcoming,” he said.  

Unconventional path to cybersecurity

A former petroleum engineer turned geophysicist turned computer scientist, Zhang’s professional trajectory is a quest for creative freedom at work. 

As a petroleum engineer, he did intensive computer work — but it was analytical work on existing software. He later ventured into geophysics to build custom models and simulations. Eventually, he decided to pivot to computer science to “build even more customized stuff.” 

Here’s how he sums up his path: “I got a little taste of technology, went on to use what other people had built, then got the urge to build my own stuff. When I started building my own stuff, I felt the need to make it secure.”

An introduction to cybersecurity 

Zhang’s fascination with technology began when he got his first computer at six years old. “I played games on floppy disks,” he said.

In high school, he got into what he described as “solving internet puzzles”— like figuring out the story behind the Microsoft Windows 98 background (the one with the green field and blue sky).

He found the process of investigating images stimulating, and making discoveries rewarding. “It was an adventure, having a picture in front of you and trying to figure out where it was taken. It got me used to putting pieces together to get the whole picture.”

Digging into metadata was, in a way, his introduction to cybersecurity. 

Finding work-life balance

With one cyberattack happening every 39 seconds, according to a Clark School study at the University of Maryland, and new threats popping up every day, keeping up-to-date with cybersecurity can feel overwhelming. Not to Zhang. “The more I learn, the more I know,” he said. 

Then there’s the intense workload. In addition to studying cybersecurity, Zhang needs to keep up with the coursework for his Master’s in Computer Science while interning at a startup and raising his daughter.

Spending time with her and his wife helps him find balance. “It takes me away from the insecure internet world, which is very intimidating sometimes.”