So, what are the Five Remembrances?
Traditionally, the Five Remembrances are a set of universal truths the Buddha taught to help us make friends with our fears of growing old, getting sick, being abandoned, and dying. 1
In order they are:
I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health.
I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.
As a Zen practitioner, I constantly look for ways to apply the teachings of the Buddha to different aspects of my life that seemingly have no direct spiritual relevance. For instance, like ethical hacking.
After all, what good are any ancient teachings if they cannot be applied to one’s present circumstances? I think perhaps the Buddha himself would say that such things need to be “thrown out” into the river like a raft…. after it has helped us reach the “other shore”.
With that in mind, regardless of whether you are the religious type or not, I’d like to share with you a gem that has been extremely beneficial to me in the field at times when I felt completely overwhelmed and subdued by the mental obstacles that I face as an ethical hacker.
Like the original Universal Truths presented by the Buddha, it is my hope that the Five Remembrances of Ethical Hacking may help you arrive at the other shore and experience Supreme Nirvana in your day to day struggles.
So, without any further ado, I present to you, “The Five Remembrances of Ethical Hacking”.
My Zero-Day exploit or high-impactful bug is of the nature to grow old, I cannot escape my Zero-Day exploit or high-impactful bug growing old.
Ethical Hackers, in addition to getting caught up and dwelling on exploits that we’ve discovered in the past, we often walk around in fear of what will happen if someone discovers a zero-day exploit or a high-impactful bug before we do in the future.
The anxiety of wanting to be first. But why?
Not only will we not be credited for having found the bug, but after its release, the exploit becomes old pretty fast, leaving us to rush back into our labs in search of “another” zero-day exploit or high-impactful bug…the next Big Thing!
This cycle then repeats and before we’re aware of it, we’re entangled in what I call the saṃsāra of hacking: hunting bugs, discovering then exploiting them for P.O.C (Proof-Of-Concept), triaging, and finally gaining awards/recognition.
All of this, only to be repeated in a never-ending cycle similar to that of birth, death, and rebirth. Over and over again…
This type of Wood energy often flares into Heart Fire. Causing us to chase recognition in an endless cycle that depletes our internal reserves. We must detach from the temporary high of the breach to cultivate lasting endurance.
My system, my application, and my organization are of the nature to have vulnerabilities, I cannot escape my system, my application, and my organization having a vulnerability.
Every system, every application, and every organization is of the nature to have vulnerabilities. This cannot be escaped. If this was not so, there would be no Red, Blue, or Purple teams. Our positions within cyber-space would be useless.
When our security posture is up to par and we are not suffering from any security events, we may think that being vulnerable is for other companies.
We look down on other companies, saying, “This company is always being hacked by the simplest of exploits, they are constantly having to do incident response to the low-hanging fruits”. We think we’re not like them but one day, we will also fall victim to a breach.
A network, like our biological bodies, has channels and meridian firewalls that must facilitate the follow of data. If a system were completely sealed, it would be dead.
When we stop viewing vulnerabilities as personal failures and start viewing them as natural Dampness or systemic imbalances, we stop fighting the nature of the network and start managing its health.
My system, my application, and my organization are of the nature of being hacked, I cannot protect my system, my application, and my organization from being hacked.
It’s a simple and true fact that we’re reluctant to face. That we will all be hacked.
Most organizations don’t take this seriously because it’s painful to look deeply into it. Our reputation will be the subject of ridicule, our budgets will be extremely affected, our having to shut down operations, etc.
But when we face the fact that we will get hacked one day, and maybe sooner than we think, we won’t embarrass ourselves by doing ridiculous things.
Like keeping up the illusion that we will continue doing business forever without being hacked.
Eventually, a sophisticated pathogen will bypass our perimeter defenses. Refusing to look deeply into this reality causes organizations to make rigid, fear-based decisions.
When we accept that our digital Wei Qi will face compromise, we shift our focus from impossible invulnerability to deep, internal resilience.
All my favorite techniques and methodologies that I love using are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape having to change the techniques and methodologies that I love to use.
With quantum computing becoming a reality and Moore’s Law being applied at warping speeds, this will potentially lead to more sophisticated attacks on critical infrastructure. Whether we’re playing on the Blue, Red, or Purple team, we often get comfortable with our true and tried techniques and methodologies.
If X, then Y.
The threat landscape is advancing rapidly and so must our techniques and methodologies. We must remain fluid and adaptable as opposed to being stiff and rigid.
We must embody the Water element, remaining fluid and adaptable to route around the obstacles of the digital battlefield.
I inherit the results of my acts of body, speech, and mind. The actions and contributions that I take and make as a bug-bounty hunter, threat hunter, or cybersecurity professional are all my continuation.
Whether we remember or forget the above four, ultimately, our actions and our contributions will be our karma. Only we as a collective, or individual practitioners in our field, are the deciders of what this karma will manifest itself out to be.
Our systems, our companies, and the security of our nation’s infrastructure, it’s all in our hands.
What we do towards evolving in the field, the words we put out into the community in the form of courses, research, videos, posts to social media platforms, and so forth, will be the evidence of our continuation.
Where we are today, and what we are contributing in this field towards making a better tomorrow, all bear witness to this. We are the deciders of what our collective karma will manifest into.
By cultivating our own internal treasures, we ensure that our legacy is one of grounded protection rather than burned-out occupational pathology.
So, what are some things that you contemplate daily to help you stay grounded in the present moment? If you don’t mind being vulnerable and sharing, drop them in the comments, I’d love to hear them.
As always, realize and recognize that you have to keep hope alive. Never take your eyes off of the prize, cause you only have one life to live.
Stay blessed. Thank you for reading!
Amituofo (阿弥陀佛)