Even the best hospitals can’t stop every illness. But they’re ready to respond quickly and treat what they can
Recently, during a meeting, I mentioned this fact, that made the room go silent!
They were curious about the recent Bybit $1 billion hack. I broke down the possible attack vectors and finished with a blunt truth:
"There are risks and attack surfaces we simply cannot do anything about."
Their reaction? Shock.
"I don’t expect to hear that from a security expert!"
Some hear "we can’t stop everything" and think we’re giving up. We’re not. It’s all about how you frame it.
Too many people still cling to a fantasy: that with enough effort, we can make systems invincible.
Let’s stay honest. We can’t. And pretending otherwise makes things worse.
Now, why resilience—not perfection—is what actually keeps us safe:
Cybersecurity is often misunderstood as a quest for perfection—a belief that systems can be made 100% secure. But that idea is not only unrealistic; it can be dangerous.
Think about it: Every day, engineers patch bugs, update systems, and chase down threats. And yet, breaches still happen. In this blog, I want to talk about why that is—not from a place of pessimism, but from a place of clarity and resilience.
From zero-day vulnerabilities to the sheer complexity of modern software, we’re in a fight we can never "win" in the traditional sense. But acknowledging these truths isn’t waving a white flag—it’s building a smarter, stronger defense.
Let’s dive into why absolute security is a myth, how denial of that fact increases risk, and what it really means to build systems that can withstand, adapt to, and recover from failure.
The Truth About Security
1️⃣ Zero-Days Are Real and Already in Use
Zero-day vulnerabilities are flaws no one knows about—except the attackers already using them. These gaps aren’t due to carelessness. They’re part of the game, where attackers need one opening and defenders must protect everything.
2️⃣ Perfect Security Doesn’t Exist
No amount of tools, audits, or firewalls can make a system 100% secure. That’s why leading standards like NIST and ISO focus on risk management, not elimination. Security is a process, not a destination.
3️⃣ Complex Systems Are Fragile
Think of modern software as a city built on top of another city, with pipes and wires from unknown eras still running underneath. Each new tool or dependency adds potential points of failure.
Even if each layer is secure in isolation, the interaction between them can create new, unexpected vulnerabilities. Add human error—misconfigurations, rushed deployments—and you begin to see why breaches happen even in "secure" environments.
Why Embracing Limits Makes Us Stronger
Some people hear “we can’t fix everything” and assume that means we’re giving up. On the contrary—acknowledging limits is how we begin to work smarter.
✅ We Focus on What Matters Most
Instead of chasing an impossible goal, we start investing in mitigation strategies: threat modeling, layered defenses, continuous monitoring. We build for resilience.
✅ We Build Trust Through Honesty When teams are honest about what they can and can’t control, they foster a culture of realism and responsibility. Stakeholders know where they stand—and that’s powerful.
✅ We Design for Recovery A breach shouldn’t be a surprise. It should be something your system is designed to recover from. That shift in mindset—from "prevent" to "recover"—changes everything.
What Happens When We Deny Reality?
❌ False Confidence
Believing you’re secure often means you stop patching, testing, and preparing. That’s when real danger creeps in.
❌ Blame Culture
If something fails, the instinct is to find someone to blame. But breaches are often systemic, not personal.
❌ Wasted Learning
Incidents teach us. If we pretend risk doesn’t exist, we miss the chance to improve.
How to Talk About These Limits
💡 Say This Instead:
“We can’t remove every risk, but we can prepare for the ones that matter most—and bounce back fast from anything else.”
💡 Point to Action:
Mention things like audits, red team exercises, and disaster recovery plans. Realism is not inaction.
💡 Use Analogies:
“Even the best hospitals can’t stop every illness. But they’re ready to respond quickly and treat what they can.”
Are You Ready to Face the Harsh Truth?
Yes, there are vulnerabilities being exploited right now that no one knows about. Does that make me uneasy? Not really.
In fact, that uncomfortable truth is what keeps this field honest. It pushes us to innovate, to think in systems, to focus on recovery—not just prevention.
I don’t want a beautiful lie. I want a strong foundation.
Final Thought
- In cybersecurity, comforting lies don’t just hurt—they kill.
- The future belongs to the resilient, not the delusional.
- Only those who build on truth will survive the storm.
In a world full of beautiful lies, will your system survive the truth?