Kenton Courtois
Cybersecurity engineer and AI practitioner who has been building networked systems since 1992 — starting with a multi-line BBS he programmed as an eleven-year-old in Maine. Today he leads cybersecurity and GRC at Southworth International Group in Falmouth, and remains available for independent consulting and speaking across Maine, New Hampshire, and Wyoming.
Built From the Ground Up
Kenton Courtois's relationship with networked systems began in a basement in Maine in 1992. At eleven he built his own computer, wired multiple phone lines, and programmed a multi-line Bulletin Board System that grew to more than 1,000 local users — a self-hosted digital community years before the web reached most households.
That early lesson in architecture, community, and what happens when people meet infrastructure at scale still shapes his work. Since 2017 he has served full-time at Southworth International Group (SIGI) in Falmouth, Maine, leading cybersecurity and GRC, and remains available for independent consulting and speaking.
Security, systems, and applied AI
Enterprise Cybersecurity
Daily work in risk management, threat modeling, penetration testing, compliance architecture, and the physical security of electronics and IoT devices.
Physical & Digital Pen Testing
Custom physical penetration testing hardware since the late 1990s, plus the software to operate it — combined with modern digital offensive security.
AI Engineering & Integration
Model training, robotic vision, inference pipelines, and applied LLM deployment, with emphasis on choosing the right model and stack for the task.
SaaS & Systems Development
More than twenty years building networked systems and software products, from BBS infrastructure to security-first SaaS for underserved markets.
From BBS Sysop to AI Engineer
- 1992–1996
Sysop: Building a BBS Before the Web
At eleven, Kenton built his own computer and ran a multi-line BananaCom BBS from his home in Maine, with dedicated phone lines and more than 1,000 local users. Hardware, software, and systems administration sat in one stack — a community network before the public web.
- Late 1990s–2000s
IT, Hardware & the Start of Consulting
As the commercial internet took shape, he moved into IT infrastructure and networking, and started designing custom physical penetration testing hardware. When nothing off-the-shelf could drive it, he wrote the software himself. That mix of hardware and adversarial thinking became the base of his consulting and speaking.
- 2001–2021
Private & Public Sector Security
For two decades he provided cybersecurity consulting, architecture, compliance, and risk management to private-sector enterprises and public-sector organizations. The work covered digital security and the physical security of electronics as connected devices entered ordinary operations.
- 2010s
Enterprise Architecture & SaaS
The practice widened into enterprise security architecture, risk programs, and secure SaaS for niche markets. As IoT spread, hardware-level exposure became a regular part of client work, alongside independent product engineering that remains active.
- 2017–Present
SIGI, Applied AI & HiveMasterPro
Since 2017 he has led cybersecurity and GRC at Southworth International Group in Falmouth, Maine. From 2018 he has worked hands-on with transformer-era AI — model training, robotic vision, and stack architecture — and is an original founding contributor to Quail’a Bee Solutions and HiveMasterPro. Independent consulting and speaking continue.
HiveMasterPro™
HiveMasterPro is a web and mobile SaaS platform for beekeepers at every scale, developed under Quail'a Bee Solutions, LLC in Sheridan, Wyoming. Kenton is an original founding contributor, helping shape its technical foundation, security architecture, and AI strategy.
What began in 2010 as a personal inspection logger is now a federally trademarked platform — with AI insights, IoT integrations, and tools for hobbyists through commercial fleets. hivemasterpro.com
Why HiveMasterPro?
Started as a personal inspection logger in 2010 and grown, with beekeeper feedback, into AI insights, IoT sensors, yard tools, and fleet logistics.
Built with the same security-first defaults that define Kenton’s cybersecurity work — hive data, operations data, and community protected by design.
Founding members have kept bees across backyard colonies, sideliner yards, and commercial apiaries. The product follows that practice, not generic farm software.
Homesteader, Grower & Keeper of Bees
Long before cybersecurity, there was the land. Kenton grew up in Maine and New Hampshire — camping, hiking, gardening, and the occasional summer gold panning with his uncle on the Swift River at Coos Canyon in Byron, Maine. Introduced to bees around age nine, he now keeps a small homestead of honey bee colonies, quail, and gardens. The same patience used to read a hive shows up in the systems he builds.
Get In Touch
For cybersecurity consulting, speaking, AI integration, or questions about HiveMasterPro and Quail'a Bee Solutions, use the form below.