Our History

Our lead consultant, Mark A. Houpt started CommonSenseSecurity.net after departing an employer in 2014. The people he worked with daily wanted to stay in contact and continue to learn about security and privacy theory and how to employ that security in common sense manner. This is the result.

A few years prior to this catalyst event, Mark had the opportunity to be the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Lincoln Christian University (LCU). As with any job he took the opportunity to not only employ the skills he possessed but also learn new skills. As the CTO of a small University, one must at times get creative with staffing and thus out of necessity was birthed the desire to teach and educate. When times were tight at the school Mark employed a series of “student workers.” Most did not previously have technology skills or a background in professional IT matters, instead presenting on their resume the use of Facebook, Twitter and smartphones as their experience. Instead of tossing these resumes out Mark saw an opportunity and began to teach and demonstrate the practical use of technology in a professional environment to these students. Also during this time, Mark had the opportunity to formally teach University level courses to students (mostly adults) that were struggling with basic computer skills. Through this “Introduction to Windows and Computing” course at LCU he realized that he had the patience and ability to deliver complex technical matters in a manner that the general populace “got it.” Many of these students had come to school not knowing what they were going to do after graduation and today some of them are IT professionals, including serving in cyber defense units within the military, systems administrators and IT project managers in large corporations. CommonSenseSecurity.net simply carries on this effort.