From a tiny CPU to building a global security community
Meet Satyam Pathania: a self-taught cybersecurity researcher, YouTuber, and writer who believes the best way to learn is by building, breaking, and honestly documenting the process. Satyam is the founder of the cybersecurity community Security BSides Jammu and has been invited to speak at prestigious institutions like IIT Jammu. Operating under the usernames 0xDiddy and (formerly in his CTF days) cryptoKnightS, Satyam shares everything—the wins, the failures, and the mistakes—to help others feel less lost in their security journey.
Satyam’s journey started simply: with a tiny Lenovo CPU gifted by his brother when he was 15 or 16. “I didn’t know what cybersecurity was—I just liked exploring and breaking things,” he recalls.
Watching Mr. Robot was a major catalyst, shifting his focus to understanding credential theft and system failures. The true turning point, however, came during a time when internet services in his home state of Jammu & Kashmir, India, were shut down for over a year. He would travel just to access slow 2G internet (100–300kbps) to download books and tutorials.
His early experiments involved installing Linux, which led to crashing and then successfully fixing his system twice. “That moment—breaking something completely and fixing it—was a turning point.” Later, using public Wi-Fi, he discovered RDP and built a small project using an ESP/NodeMCU board that could deauthenticate 2.4GHz networks. “Seeing that work felt powerful. That’s when I realized hardware hacking hits different.”
Satyam’s first personal computer
While he has a broad perspective, Satyam is particularly passionate about hardware hacking. “Hardware removes abstractions,” he explains. “You’re forced to understand how systems truly work at a protocol and physical level. That depth is what makes security research meaningful to me.”
Lacking a Flipper Zero in India, he uses alternatives like the M5 Stick C Plus2, which he successfully used for a public prank at a tech conference. Today, he’s focused on setting up Wi-Fi testing environments, IoT experiments, CTF-style labs, and hardware projects—often comparing expensive tools with cheaper alternatives to find true value.
Satyam also notes that most of his projects started because something didn’t work the first time. Instead of quitting, he turns the failures into content and learns from them.
Hacking, for Satyam, is more than a skill; it’s a philosophy. It taught him the value of humility and defense. “When I started defending [systems] while thinking from the attacker’s POV is what makes it more fun and sensible now.”
Satyam stresses that the most dangerous issues aren’t always complex exploits, but misconfigurations and insecure defaults, especially in IoT and internal systems. “A lot of damage doesn’t come from advanced exploits, it comes from things that were never set up securely in the first place.”
Satyam teaches through YouTube, blogs, and public projects, documenting his learning in real-time. “Teaching helps me learn better and helps beginners feel less lost.”
His advice for aspiring hackers? Start building early. Don’t wait to feel ready. Break things, fix them, and repeat. That’s how real learning happens. Also, make sure you document your journey online, we will grow together.
An important lesson learned early on: Consistency beats motivation. Showing up every day matters more than chasing shortcuts.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, Satyam views it as a valuable assistant, not a replacement. “I use AI like a smart assistant—to understand concepts faster, brainstorm lab ideas, generate test cases, or help document projects. It saves time, but it doesn’t replace thinking.”
He believes that while AI will speed up security tasks on both sides, fundamentals will always matter. Hackers stay ahead by “understanding fundamentals, experimenting constantly, and not relying only on tools.”
Satyam is focused on collaborative efforts, wanting to work with hackers, builders, platforms, and brands on serious security projects. His goals for the year include going deeper into hardware, Wi-Fi, IoT, and Web3 security, and improving his teaching content to be clearer and more honest.
His ideal career is one that mixes research, building, and teaching—a role where he never stops being curious.
You can follow Satyam Pathania’s work and journey on his Instagram: @satyam.pathania and Instagram: @0xdiddy, or connect with him on X (Twitter). If you’re a customer that is interested in working with hackers like Satyam, sign up to talk to our team today.