So I recently did an interview for Hitachi System's publication HISYS Journal. Some of my non-Japanese-reading friends have asked if there is an English version of it. Unfortunately, no. So here is a supplemental post where I in my own voice can express what I talked about in the article.
The earlier parts asks me how I got involved in the "security industry". In short it was a weird sequence of life choices and coincidences that led to my involvement into the security industry sphere. I was a theater and film major in college but worked a the engineering lab on campus cause it paid a dollar better than the other jobs, international students could only work on campus. So while during the day as a lab assistant I did whatever was asked, at night my friends and I had access to all the computing resources of the engineering department. We had a lot of fun fully utilizing our access. Then I decided to drop out and get a job, one thing led to another and I ended up at a start up. Then I joined a multimedia agency and while the world was focusing on cd-roms as the primary media format, 4 of my colleagues and I thought the Internet was gonna be a bigger fish. So we spun off our own digital agency focusing on the internet.
While at the agency a friend contacted me and asked if I was interested in helping out in organizing a "security conference" in Japan. Given my background in theater and film and my language skills it was a match made in heaven. That's where I learned that there're others like me.
The interview goes on on tracing my steps which I'll skip over but they ask me about Wigle and my obsession with war driving. War driving is one of the few computer activities that actually requires you to get away from your screen and go outside. That interests me. Ever since I was in the ad-agency world I have maintained that any profession requires to keep your antenna tuned to the world. I often tell young engineers to go out and catch a movie, go see a play or do something away from the screen. An engineer's goal should be to solve problems, but without engaging with the world how are you suppose to know what problems are actual problems people struggle with. During the covid lockdown I was grounded for the first time in my life , I had never a year I didn't fly ever since I was a kid. I started to do my night walks wigling parts of Tokyo I had never been. I set a goal for my self to break into the top 100 of wigle.net. My walks grew in distance and I started to do extremely long walks, 50k,60k and eventually 100k walks.
I'm a big fan of the first Japanese 14 peaker (climber who has climbed all 14 of the peaks over 8000m) Takeuchi Hirotaka and his writings. He says that climbing is a sports of imagination, you have to be able to imagine yourself reaching the peak and coming back safely. Risks and sticky situations are the result of the failure in imaginations. You didn't imagine enough everything good and bad that could happen.
Hacking is also a very "imagination heavy" activity I feel. You have to imagine "Can I ...." then you start and you spend endless hours trying to hack whatever it is you trying to hack. You fail, you make small progress but at every turn you use your imagination to find the next step.
Both climbing and hacking get acknowledgements when they reach the peak or find an outcome others didn't imagine. But that's often just half of the whole story. Once you hit the peak of a mountain you have to safely come down on your own to count. Being rescued off the mountain you tried to peak doesn't count as a successful climb, similarly in hacking finding a vulnerability or some interesting outcome is only half the process, you either have to stabilize your finding or provide meaningful counter measures or disclosures. The coming off the mountain or post-finding of a successful hack both do not get the attention of the "success" but both are actually often more important I feel.
Making Your Own Gear (MYOG) movement is very much like hacking , you have to imagine what you are trying to make, do the research on what materials to use, design your outcome , try and fail by prototyping ... you get the idea. Sewing requires you imagine folding fabric into a 3D shape.
Imagination is an essential component for any success I believe and you feed your imagination by experiencing the world. Often people complain about an outcome they didn't expect, but in the same vein ignore the input that lead to that outcome. Changing the outcome is hard, but filtering the input is easier. Experiencing the world by stepping away from your screen fills that reservoir of imagine magic. I have had some of my most helpful thoughts on my long walks or hikes. I have learned a great deal about myself in the darkest hours of my life and walks and imagination has helped me dig myself out or move forward.
Often people get praised for spending countless hours doing something(at least in Japan), but how much of that is just inefficiency ? "I spend all night on this proposal" was a phrase I often heard when working in the ad-agency world. I never thought that hours equaled quality. It's like saying "I've been climbing for 20 years." Yea but how much did you do per year? Did you climb once or twice every 5 years? Or did you spend everyday climbing for 5 years. There is a significant difference in experience between the two cases. Same for hacking, the experience should count more than the actual hours you spend. If you haven't tried a shortcut you aren't trying hard enough. Years as a hacker are as useful as a pencil in a deep sea cave. Yes you will end up spending countless hours, days, years to "master" a craft, but it wasn't you goal to spend those hours, your goal was to achieve a level of craftsmanship you set as your goal.
I don't trust anyone who says "back in the days computers were better." It wasn't. Don't confuse nostalgia with "being better." Yes, I love old tech as much as any tech geek, but I love my high-speed broadband, my multicore processors with insane GPU enabled computing power. Definitely newer tech is better. Takeuchi Hirotaka says in one of his writings that people look back at climbers back in the 50s and 60s and are amazed by how much they achieved with the less than modern equipment they used. But in reality that equipment was the latest cutting edge technology at the time, its not like the climbers of the past purposely chose less than ideal equipment, that equipment was the "most advanced at the time." I agree that that is true for computing too. It wasn't that we used short variable names because we chose to do so by style, it was because we needed to maximize the utility of the resources we had available at the time.
In a world where the Internet is available like water (albeit the quality of water can be different in different parts of the world) how many young people want to be plumbers? Not many, my kids use the Internet all day but have no interest in the underlying plumbing. The Internet is littered with "public wifi and its dangers" articles that don't contribute anything other than digital noise and FUD. Security can be interesting but you have to have a fundamental understanding of the technology to find it interesting.I think one of the joys of music is to learn what music my favorite musicians listen to and inspired them. It's like going upstream to find the source of the water that formed the river downstream. Technology can be the same if you start going up stream or lower in layers you can find interesting things that will make you branch off to corners you didn't know existed. This process is a crucial process in building the foundation that will give you the freedom to imagine your next step.
I have never considered myself an information security professional. I have never been a NOC administrator or SOC analyst, I don't do reverse engineering of malware. I am a hacker someone who driven by curiosity and imagination keeps exploring the world. Often the two circles of information security and hacking get mixed up, albeit there is a significant overlap(maybe), they are two distinct disciplines. I believe there is a way to professionalize hacking much like sports. Hackers getting paid to be hackers to inspire others to endeavor into the field or maybe end up as professionals like coaches and GMs of a sports team.This is different than infosec-rockstars, professional hackers would get paid to be hackers.
I have made many friends over my years being part of the hacker community. But in reality when we get together rarely do we talk about the latest vulnerability or cool hack we saw. We talk about life, a movie we saw, our hobbies, travel destinations we visited things that interest us. We are more than the latest vulnerability or hack we as humans are more complex beings.
a bit of a rant but hopefully it will clear up some of my thought processes to you.
---Here is the ChatGPT rewrite of this rant---
Hacking, Hiking, and MYOG: A Journey of Imagination and Exploration
Recently, I had the opportunity to be interviewed for Hitachi System's publication, HISYS Journal. Some of my non-Japanese-reading friends asked if there was an English version. Unfortunately, there isn’t—so this post serves as a personal reflection and expansion on the ideas I discussed in that interview, in my own voice.
The Unconventional Path into Security
My journey into the security industry wasn’t conventional. I studied theater and film in college but worked as a lab assistant in the engineering department simply because it paid better than other on-campus jobs available to international students. While performing routine tasks during the day, my friends and I had unrestricted access to computing resources at night, which we fully utilized for exploration and experimentation. One thing led to another—I dropped out, joined a startup, then moved to a multimedia agency. At the time, CD-ROMs were the dominant media format, but a small group of us believed the internet was the future. We spun off our own digital agency, focusing entirely on the web.
A pivotal moment came when a friend invited me to help organize a security conference in Japan. My background in theater, film, and language skills made it an ideal fit. It was at that conference that I discovered a community of people who, like me, were driven by curiosity and exploration.
The Allure of War Driving
During the interview, I was asked about Wigle and my fascination with war driving. What draws me to it is the fact that it’s one of the few tech-related activities that forces you to step away from a screen and engage with the real world. In my advertising days, I emphasized to young engineers that their job is to solve real-world problems—but how can they do that effectively without immersing themselves in the world? During the COVID-19 lockdowns, I started walking at night, mapping parts of Tokyo I had never explored before. I set a personal goal: break into the top 100 on Wigle.net. This led to increasingly longer walks—50km, 60km, and eventually even 100km.
The Role of Imagination in Hacking and Climbing
One of my inspirations is Takeuchi Hirotaka, the first Japanese climber to summit all 14 peaks over 8,000 meters. He describes climbing as a sport of imagination—you must be able to visualize yourself reaching the peak and returning safely. Risks and accidents often stem from failures in imagination: not fully considering everything that could go right or wrong.
Hacking is similarly imagination-intensive. It begins with a question: Can I…? That thought initiates a process of relentless trial and error. Success in both climbing and hacking is often celebrated only when reaching the peak—whether that’s summiting a mountain or finding a critical vulnerability. But what happens afterward is just as crucial. In mountaineering, a climb isn’t truly complete until you descend safely. In hacking, finding a vulnerability is just the beginning—you must stabilize your findings, propose countermeasures, or disclose the issue responsibly. The unglamorous but necessary aftermath of success is often the most important part of the process.
MYOG: Hacking in the Physical World
The Make Your Own Gear (MYOG) movement shares the same principles as hacking. It’s about imagining a desired outcome, researching materials, designing, prototyping, and iterating through failures. Sewing, for instance, requires visualizing how fabric will transform into a three-dimensional shape—just as hacking requires imagining different ways to manipulate a system.
Imagination is fueled by real-world experiences. Many people express surprise at unexpected outcomes in life or work but fail to consider the inputs that led to those results. Changing outcomes is difficult, but filtering or diversifying inputs is much easier. Stepping away from screens—walking, hiking, or exploring—feeds the mind with fresh ideas. Some of my most important realizations have come during long walks, often in my darkest hours. Movement, imagination, and self-reflection have helped me navigate challenges and move forward.
Efficiency vs. Perceived Effort
In Japan, there’s a cultural emphasis on perseverance—people are often praised for working long hours. But how much of that is inefficiency? When I worked in advertising, I frequently heard people boast, “I stayed up all night on this proposal.” But effort doesn’t always equal quality. Just like in climbing, the number of years spent matters less than how actively and consistently you engage. Hacking follows the same principle: experience and skill matter more than raw hours logged. If you haven’t experimented with shortcuts or alternative approaches, you’re not trying hard enough. Years as a hacker are as useful as a pencil in an underwater cave if they aren’t accompanied by actual problem-solving experience.
Nostalgia vs. Progress
I don’t trust anyone who says, “Back in the day, computers were better.” That’s nostalgia, not reality. Yes, old tech is fascinating, but modern computing—high-speed broadband, multicore processors, GPU-powered AI—is undeniably better. Takeuchi Hirotaka pointed out that climbers of the 1950s and ‘60s used the best technology available at the time; they didn’t choose outdated gear, they simply used what was cutting-edge then. Similarly, we didn’t use short variable names in early programming because of style—it was a necessity due to hardware limitations.
The Unseen Layers of Security and Technology
In a world where the internet is as ubiquitous as water, how many young people aspire to be the plumbers of the internet? Few. The internet is filled with alarmist articles about public Wi-Fi dangers that contribute little beyond fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD). Security becomes engaging when you understand the underlying technology. One of the joys of music is discovering what inspired your favorite musicians—tracing influences upstream. Technology is the same; digging deeper often reveals fascinating and unexpected layers that lead to new areas of curiosity.
Hacking as a Profession
I have never considered myself an “information security professional.” I’ve never been a NOC administrator or SOC analyst, nor do I reverse-engineer malware. I am a hacker—driven by curiosity and imagination, continuously exploring. Many conflate information security and hacking, but they are distinct (albeit overlapping) fields. I believe hacking could be professionalized similarly to sports—where hackers get paid to hack, inspiring others to enter the field and, perhaps, transition into roles akin to coaches or general managers of a team. This is different from “infosec rockstars”; it’s about creating a structured profession around hacking itself.
The Hacker Community: More Than Just Tech
Over the years, I’ve built strong friendships within the hacker community. Interestingly, when we meet, we rarely discuss vulnerabilities or exploits. We talk about life, movies, hobbies, travel—things beyond hacking. Because at our core, we are more than just our technical skills. We are complex individuals with diverse interests, shaped by the experiences that fuel our imagination.
This post may feel like a bit of a rant, but I hope it provides some insight into my thought process and why I believe imagination, exploration, and engaging with the world are essential—not just in hacking but in life itself.