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The first and most important step on learning is to understand how much there is to learn :)
That said, there are exceptional individuals, either because they are geniuses or because they have had the opportunity to experience things.
If you focus on an area and dig in you can get pretty cunning, especially if you have others to guide you.
But after a dozen years in the business you most likely have some similar expertise, and if you gave a talk about it someone in the audience will think the same as you just did.
Once we start to learn more its easier to underestimate our own knowledge, only in ignorance does the self esteem grow unhindered ;)
Fuck, I'll always be a noob. Knowing next to nothing about software development, hacking, exploits - just anything.
Felt a bit proud to had reached the level "hacker" on hack the box. Was fun solving stego, crypto and reversing challenges, diving into assembly the first time. Felt cool stepping through a disassemblied executable with radare, and understanding what a NOP slide is...
However all the illusion crumbled down, when I watched this CCC talk on OpenBSD security, where the speaker was underwhelmed with one of OpenBSD mitigations, where they tried to disallow them: "NOP slides?! Srly? No one is using that anymore. Just look at current exploits."
I felt so stupid, which I probably am. Will never catch up with those guys.
But whatever. In the end we all know nothing. We have no clue, but some are more apt in disguising it behind big speech.
(really like this German song: https://youtube.com/watch/...
Those lines always give me a chuckle:
"Man has no idea.
The house has no idea.
The tree has no idea.
The fawn has no idea.
The squid has no idea.
The tapir knows, but doesn't tell us.")
rant
hacking
nop slide
ccc talk
no idea
no clue
disillusioned