Alright… I guess it’s time I admit it.

I know, I know — I didn’t mention this back in chapter one.

But yeah… I was one of those kids. The ones lurking in the “hacking” sections of forums.

I had a soft spot for those sketchy-looking “hacking” forums. You know the ones — dark UI, usernames with way too many x’s, and tutorials that started with “for educational purposes only.” I wasn’t breaking anything — just lurking.... Feeling like I was part of the cool kids online. And let’s be honest — the media didn’t help. TV shows made hackers look like geniuses in hoodies, saving (or destroying) the world with six lines of code. I fell for it. I loved the vibe. The mystery. The power. Even if most of the time I was just clicking through sketchy links, wondering if I was learning… or just one click away from bricking my old laptop.

But the deeper I got, the more something shifted. What felt “cool” at first started to feel… off. Behind the usernames and green code overlays, you started seeing what really got affected: people. Real users. Their data. Their trust. And suddenly, “hacking” didn’t feel rebellious — it felt reckless.

That’s when I switched camps. From poking around for fun to protecting what matters. From mimicking the cool kids to redefining what cool means. Because let’s be real: the real flex isn’t bypassing the system. It’s understanding it deeply enough to protect others from harm.

That’s when cybersecurity clicked for me. Not as a job title, but as a mindset. It wasn’t about locking things down — it was about building spaces people could trust. It was about defending the user, even when they didn’t know they needed it. And yeah… maybe that makes me one of the new cool kids now.

‍