When an RIT student starts a business and helps save the internet

Benjamin Brundage, a fourth-year computer science student, made front-page news for helping take down one of the most powerful cyberweapons ever assembled. And he's been running his own startup at the same time.

In April, The Wall Street Journal published a story about Brundage, titled "The College Student-and His Cat Meme-Who Hunted the World's Biggest Cyberweapon." It described how Brundage identified a botnet called Kimwolf that executed more than 26,000 cyberattacks by hacking residential proxy software-back doors in cheap apps and internet-connected devices. Then, he joined industry and government experts to help take Kimwolf down.

One month later, Brundage is graduating from RIT.

Through his studies and extracurricular activities, Brundage has carved out a niche in threat intelligence. He also used one of his major's required cooperative education blocks to continue building his own startup company.

Here, Brundage shares a bit about his internet fame and time at RIT.

Why did you choose to attend RIT?

Growing up in Seattle, I wanted to see what the East Coast was like. That, combined with RIT having a really strong cybersecurity club and computer science program, played a significant role in wanting to attend.

What have you enjoyed about the RITSEC cybersecurity club?

I've made some of my best friends through that club. It's an easy way to meet and network with people who all share the same interest. It's also a place where you can put yourself out there through giving presentations on topics that interest you.

How did you get into the world of residential proxy networks?

It initially started out as me trying to build my own bot detection company. During that process I started tagging malicious IP addresses and went down the rabbit hole of residential proxies. It was a really interesting world since you have a massive economy of essentially compromised devices being sold "legally."

Why do you find this work so interesting?

This is a research heavy field that has so many moving components. It's a fun way of applying both reverse-engineering and programming and getting lost in these rabbit holes.

How did you turn this into a co-op?

After my first internship at Commaful, I knew I wanted to do my own stuff. I reached out to RIT and asked if I could do my own startup as a co-op credit. The program in Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences was super accommodating and I'm super grateful for that. I was able to pursue what I was passionate about. I also did an internship at BlackRock.

Now, you're a student and running your own company?

Yes, I'm actively building Synthient which helps detect compromised devices and anonymized traffic. Companies typically ingest the data allowing them to block compromised devices on their network, identify fraud, or block DDoS attacks.

What are you doing next?

I'm excited to graduate and looking forward to the future. I'm going to keep building my startup and use it as an excuse to travel and explore.