Misconceptions Memes

When you tell someone you're a "hacker" and they immediately assume you're a criminal who can break into any account... The frustration is so real it requires lethal force! This is basically the cybersecurity equivalent of telling someone you're a doctor and them immediately asking you to look at their weird rash in the middle of a dinner party. The absolute disconnect between actual security professionals (who spend their days writing documentation and staring at logs) versus the Hollywood "I can hack the Pentagon with three keystrokes" fantasy never gets old.

Nothing triggers a programmer's fight-or-flight response quite like someone casually asking "Can you hack someone?" as if we're all secretly cyber criminals with a side hustle in identity theft. The visible shaking isn't from caffeine overdose this time—it's the pure existential dread of explaining for the 500th time that writing a React component and breaking into the Pentagon are slightly different skill sets. Next time someone asks, just reply "Yes, but only on Tuesdays when Mercury is in retrograde and my RGB keyboard is set to purple." Works every time.

Every junior dev thinks they've invented encryption when they discover Base64. The number of times I've had to explain that encoding ≠ encryption is probably why my hair's thinning. Base64 is just fancy dress for your data – anyone can undress it with zero effort. It's like hiding your house key under the doormat and calling it a security system. And the response is always the same: "Fine! I'll just use Base128 then!" Sure buddy, throw more digits at the problem. That'll fix it. Just like how writing your password in bigger letters makes it more secure.