Week starting: 25th May 2026
Back to machines and exam prep, with the psychology series wrapped.
What I worked on
Blog Posts Published:
- Human Psychology Is the Exploit (Part 3): The Paradox of Security Awareness
- Final piece of the three-part series
- Covers why knowing about attacks doesn’t make you immune
- Metacognitive blindness, confidence traps, why smart people still fall for it
- Solutions: assume vulnerability, build external systems, meta-awareness training, stress-test defenses, accept failure, focus on recovery
- Series complete: foundation → gray areas → reality check
Community Sessions:
- Hosted HTB Uganda meetup with guest speaker (again)
- The hosting rhythm is solidifying
- Community engagement staying consistent
Exam Prep - Back to Machines:
- Started playing HTB Season 11 machines
- Shifted focus from study materials to hands-on labs
- Exam prep mode activated
- Solved 1/1 machines so far
Write-ups as You Go:
- Establishing a new workflow: solve → writeup immediately → publish when retired
- Captures the fresh reasoning while the solution is hot
- Writeups won’t pile up as a backlog
- Quality should be higher with immediate documentation
- Publishing cadence tied to HTB retirement schedule
Key takeaways
The psychology series is done. Three parts, ~10,300 words total, covering the neuroscience and behavioral mechanisms behind social engineering. Part 3 wrapped it up with the uncomfortable truth: knowing about attacks doesn’t protect you. The paradox is real, and it required its own section.
Hosting HTB Uganda sessions is becoming the standard format.
Back to machines feels good. The shift from pure study to hands-on labs is a gear change in exam prep. Season 11 is the target, and documenting as I solve keeps the learning concrete and publishable. The workflow of immediate writeups prevents the common trap of “I’ll document it later” which almost never happens.
Challenges and friction
None significant this week. The psychology series publishing went smooth and the machine solving started strong.
Looking ahead
Week 21:
- Continue Season 11 machines
- Keep the HTB Uganda hosting going
- Publish writeups as machines retire
- Maintain weekly progress logs
Series wrapped, machines started, hosting steady. Momentum building.