The Moment Reality Crashed Through My Firewall

I’d spent weeks preparing. My notes were perfect, my lab setup was impressive. As I sat in the virtual waiting room, I mentally rehearsed all the complex attacks I could discuss. Buffer overflows? Check. SQL injection? Obviously. Zero days? I had theories.

Then the interview began, and within ten minutes, I was digitally bleeding out on the floor.

The hiring manager, a senior security architect with the calm demeanor of someone who’s seen actual cyber wars, asked five deceptively simple questions that exposed the gap between my theoretical knowledge and practical understanding.

Here are the five questions that destroyed me, and what I wish I’d known then.

The 5 Questions That Made Me Sweat Through My Hoodie

1. “Explain the 5 phases of ethical hacking like I’m a new client”

What I said: “Well, there’s reconnaissance, scanning, gaining access, maintaining access, and…