When I first started working with Asian companies, I never imagined how challenging it would be to understand the way work is honored in this part of the world. In the West, we tend to associate efficiency with speed and public exposure. Here in Asia, the true measure of professionalism lies in discretion and prudence.
I didn’t learn any of this in a classroom; I’ve discovered it day by day, with some difficulty, I confess. Observing, trying to integrate, respecting the culture, their way of working, their silence. At first, I didn’t understand those silences—they felt tedious, even unsettling. Accustomed to Western noise, it took me years to learn to give them another meaning and begin to appreciate them.
A meeting that might seem routine is full of silences, restrained gestures, and brief phrases; yet behind it all are hierarchies and deep respect for process. Contracts are reviewed with meticulous detail: the wording, personal presentation, clothing colors, and of course, the silences. Then, the documents are signed and stamped with red ink, one by one.
Asian technology is among the most advanced on the planet—far beyond Europe and Latin America combined, and in some areas, even surpassing the United States. Yet documents are still signed with pen and paper. Not for lack of technology, but because of an approach based on commitment and responsibility for one’s role within the company. Signing a contract is done face to face, in silence, with solemnity. And if necessary, one travels two hours by plane or high-speed train to obtain the handwritten signature of another executive responsible for the project. It’s all part of a ritual that gives value to commitment. Nothing here is done lightly; everything is planned.
In the field of offensive security, trust is essential, and that changes the rules. Here, trust is built slowly. That’s why certain words are avoided, like “hacker,” for instance, because they evoke disorder, anger, lack of self-control, rebellion, ego. Instead, people speak of “engineers,” “analysts,” or “auditors,” because the goal is not recognition, but balance, self-control, and restraint. Merit doesn’t lie in appearances or fame, but in making sure everything works and no one notices your intervention. Work honors the person, their family, their culture, and their society.
This vision extends to the smallest details, like preparing tea or buying vegetables at the local market. Decisions and actions are taken calmly. In other sectors, processes are documented in detail, teams are reviewed carefully, and each member’s suitability is evaluated. From a Western perspective, this may seem old-fashioned or slow, but here things aren’t done to appear modern—they’re done to be efficient. Every stage has traceability and builds trust, from the client to the last link in the chain of command.
In Asia, cybersecurity is not seen as a battle between attackers and defenders, but as a balance. Just like in Star Wars, when Master Yoda tries to explain to Luke that darkness is also necessary to maintain harmony in the universe: without darkness, there would be no light, nor Jedi. In that balance is where technique is truly tested and stops being just a dogma. Or as we say in Chile, “in the pit, you see the roosters.”
Back to Asia, each audit or test represents an opportunity to strengthen the ecosystem. Professional ethics intertwines with personal identity: doing your job well, no matter how simple it seems, is a matter of honor, not vanity. Exactly like a Jedi… not a Sith.
The first few months were difficult until I began to understand this approach better. It’s not better or worse—just different. And perhaps that’s where its strength lies: in understanding that technology may advance, but the values that sustain it, like respect and prudence, remain the same as those that guided artisans thousands of years ago.
Every time I finish a project and everything works as it should, I no longer feel euphoria or the urge to talk about it. Now I feel serenity. Satisfaction, yes, for having done the work and being able to move on to the next project with the same calm with which one signs a document in red ink. The honor in cybersecurity is not in being visible, but in being trustworthy.