Die Hard. Christmas movie or not?
That’s how we kick off this special edition of YOU DESERVE TO BE HACKED, a fireside chat recorded as 2025 comes to a close.
This year brought seismic shifts in offensive security. AI agents everywhere. Prompt injection still unsolved. Shadow AI spreading faster than IT teams can track it. And threat actors like Scattered Spider proving that the front door is still the easiest way in.
In this episode, CovertSwarm’s Luke Potter (COO), James Dale (Head of Adversary Simulation), Jack Smith (Senior Hive Leader), and Dominika Pietrzak (AI Engineer) sit down to unpack what they’ve seen on the front lines this year.
We cover:
- How AI is reshaping both offensive and defensive operations, and why the hype doesn’t match the reality yet
- Why prompt injection remains an unsolved problem (and how to defend against it anyway)
- The rise of shadow AI and what it means for data leakage risk
- Scattered Spider-style attacks and the shift toward assumed compromise testing
- Real breach stories from 2025, including a multi-month attack chain that ended with CEO email access
- How AI is being used to bypass technical interviews and how defenders are fighting back
- What the CovertSwarm Academy taught us about building the next generation of ethical hackers
This isn’t a predictions episode. It’s a reflection on what actually happened, straight from the operators running constant cyber attacks every day.
If you want an honest look at where offensive security is heading, this one’s for you.