If All You Have Is a Hammer

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Everything needs to be pounded, battered, broken into. Sure, you can use a hammer to build a house, but I find it’s so much more rewarding to break into it. The exquisite feeling of knowing that in one swift motion, you can tear at a foundation that took ages to build. Hours of painstaking work-often by an army of men-can be ripped away with the power of just one man with enough intention.

This mantra wasn’t always my North Star, though. On the contrary, I was fascinated by the precision of building something to withstand the test of time. How to design with security in mind. Watching my Dad painstakingly lay the bricks on a new plot of land taught me the importance of creating a strong foundation to build from. And when he was done building and ready to install the locks, I learned that no matter how strong your foundation is, someone will always try to find a way inside.

My Dad took pride in his work. Creating something from nothing, providing homes for our community fueled him until his gnarled hands forced him to stop. I will never forget the day he sat me down and showed me. The joints in his hands were so swollen and mangled that almost every finger was misaligned and pointing in different directions. It was that day that I found mine.

If my Dad had devoted his entire life to build something for others only to be himself destroyed in the process, there had to be another way. I would break instead of build. And so I did.

No, I didn’t go to work for a demolition company. No-my destruction was to be more metaphorical. Technological.The Internet was the new home for everyone connected, and it was just begging to be broken into. There was so much to be had, too. Instead of the limited treasures of one house’s bounty, the whole world was my veritable oyster. But I didn’t have a knife to shuck it open to extract its pearls.

But I did have a hammer…

Sure, it may be messy, but it would get the job done. And so I learned the art of the “brute force”, my first attempt at hacking. It may have been an attempt to hack into my own account, but I'd like to think it still qualified. The principles remained the same, anyway: guess at some passwords until you get in. Or in my case, get locked out of your account and be forced to reset your password anyway.

This sloppy method didn't last too long. There are only so many times I am willing to sit through the nausea inducing process of selecting my security questions, remembering my favorite teacher who force fed me Shakespeare, the first street I ever scraped my knee on, and what car I went to first base in. You would think in an age where we can literally print a human organ and succesfully implant it, that we could make this process a little more efficient. But alas, here we are.

The frustrating tedium has forced me to refine my methods, and I now relish in the art of crafting, and breaking, a secure password. It is how I have made my living, and it is how I will change the world.

I will never forget the importance of a strong foundation and the values my Dad instilled in me many years ago. But by the same token, I will also never forget the fact that humans are quick to become complacent. A belief in fortitude and security can lull us into thinking we are invincible. That we are in an impenetrable fortress. But I am here to remind us all that nothing is as safe as we may think. I am here to claim my territory, and break down the walls. I may have to use my hammer, but I will get my pearl.