Erik Walther { Programming, Security, Privacy }

A plain HTML page tells a crawler: here is some text. A well-structured page with semantic markup tells it something far more useful: here is a write-up, authored by this person, published on this date, part of this learning resource, …

Let's start with the numbers, because they're the point. Running the site through Google's PageSpeed Insights confirms what the architecture was designed to achieve, every metric lands in the "good" range and two of them hit the absolute floor:

Most portfolio SEO advice focuses on what your site says. This post is about who your site says you are.

There's a distinction worth making early. Content signals like keywords, meta descriptions and heading structure tell crawlers what a …

Most "privacy-focused" websites stop at removing Google Analytics. That's a start, but tracking happens at every layer of the stack; the domain registrar, the hosting provider, the reverse proxy and the framework. Building something that genuinely minimises data collection means …

I built this site to learn. I'm working through boot.dev's Back-end Developer Path in Python and TypeScript, partly because my security studies on Hack The Box kept running into JavaScript I couldn't properly review. I figured the logical fix was to actually learn to write code, not just read it.

Django felt like the right challenge. It is a real production framework, and building something with it forces you to make real decisions rather than following a tutorial into a toy project. Setting it up properly, hardening it, and deploying it myself was the whole point.

Since I was building something real anyway, I wanted to do it with the things I genuinely find fascinating: privacy, security, and SEO. On the surface they can seem unrelated, but they share the same underlying logic. All three are about being intentional, understanding how systems work, and thinking carefully about what you expose and to whom. Getting that balance right is what interests me.

This site is where I apply that in practice.

I'm currently building my foundational hacking skills through the Hack The Box curriculum, working toward the level needed to qualify for bug bounty programs. This training gives me hands-on experience with core concepts like:

• Enumeration
• Privilege escalation
• Web application vulnerabilities

These are the essentials of any security researcher's toolkit.

Qualifying for bug bounty programs is a milestone, not a destination. Application security is vast and moves fast:

• New attack surfaces appear as technologies shift, frameworks update, and development practices change
• What's a critical vulnerability today may be patched tomorrow
• Entirely new exploit classes emerge to replace old ones

Closing the gap between theory and real-world research takes more than finishing a curriculum, it takes continuous learning and extensive practice against live targets.

This is exactly where I want to bring together what I've learned at Boot.dev and what I'm practicing on Hack The Box. The programming foundation I'm building, Python for automation, JavaScript for client-side analysis and SQL for injection work, isn't separate from my hacking training. It's the bridge. Custom tooling, scripted enumeration, and the ability to read and exploit source code are what turn guided exercises into real-world capability. Applying boot.dev's programming curriculum directly to Hack The Box challenges and live bug bounty targets is how I move from following walkthroughs to thinking and operating independently.

Competing as a security researcher means going beyond guided exercises and known techniques. It means developing:

• The intuition to spot novel vulnerabilities
• The persistence to dig deeper where others stop
• The adaptability to keep up with an ever-changing threat landscape

That's the standard I'm working toward, and I'm committed to putting in the time and effort to get there.

I'm currently deepening my core programming expertise through the Boot.dev curriculum, with a strong emphasis on mastering:

These three languages form the backbone of modern security tooling. My goal is to translate theoretical knowledge into practical automation and exploitation skills specifically tailored for bug bounty hunting.

By building a robust foundation across these languages, I aim to move beyond relying solely on existing tools and toward developing bespoke scripts that:

• Streamline my workflow
• Surface subtle vulnerabilities
• Give me a genuine edge in competitive bug bounty programs

The end goal isn't just finding bugs, it's building the skill set to find them faster and more reliably than the competition.

PrivacyPal is more than a high-performance, non-exit Tor relay. It is a commitment to strengthening the Tor network in an increasingly surveilled world.

This project acts as my open ledger, detailing every decision, challenge, and triumph:

• Secure and highly performant hosting
• Initial setup and configuration
• Update and maintenance strategy
• Dealing with abuse messages

Nothing is hidden. I believe true privacy infrastructure relies on trust and shared knowledge. By documenting the entire process, I aim to inspire and guide fellow advocates in building a more private internet. Through radical transparency, we collectively strengthen our defenses against intrusive monitoring.