Data Loss Prevention
Designing, deploying, and tuning DLP policies across endpoint, email, cloud, and network — aligned to GLBA, SOX, and PCI-DSS.
The Miles Randall Story
From custodian to cybersecurity.
My journey isn't linear. It wasn't handed to me. It was forged through resilience — and a refusal to stay stagnant.
I've been the guy pushing a broom past the servers, the guy on help desk resetting passwords at 2 a.m., and now I'm the guy tuning DLP policies for a Fortune 500. Every stop had to happen for the next one to make sense.
Chapter 01
The spark at the station.
2016. I was a custodian at a police station, mopping the same tile floor I mopped every night. A dispatcher walked past, looked me dead in the eye, and intentionally spilled her coffee on the floor I'd just cleaned.
I mopped it up. But something in me didn't. That was the moment I decided the floor wasn't going to be my ceiling.
Chapter 02
Building the foundation.
From 2016 to 2018 I studied by day and worked custodial shifts by night. Professor Messer on YouTube. Practice tests on my phone during breaks. Notebooks full of subnet masks and CIA triads.
I earned the CompTIA trifecta — A+, Network+, Security+ — one exam at a time, on my own dime, without a degree, without a mentor, without a safety net.
Chapter 03
The professional pivot.
February 2018. First IT role: Technical Support Specialist for fire panel systems. Not glamorous. Not cybersecurity. But it was the door. From there, Fire Alarm Training Specialist, then help desk, then desktop support.
Every title change was a rung. I didn't skip any of them.
Chapter 04
Entering the cyber domain.
2019. First real cybersecurity contract. Raytheon. Then Next DLP. Then Cyberhaven. Then Proofpoint. Now LPL Financial as Senior DLP Engineer — the exact seat I dreamt about when I was still holding a mop.
I'm grateful for every step. I'm also thankful for that spilled cup of coffee. It was the mess I needed to finally clear a path to my future.
