Inside Cyber Minds S3E10 — Mackenzie Jackson, Field CTO of Aikido Security, on secrets sprawl, AI-generated code, supply chain attacks on developer machines, and why "shift left" isn't left enough anymore. Recorded onsite at Black Hat / DEF CON.

🛡️ This episode is all about application security, secure coding, and securing AI-generated code. To build practical security skills developers actually need, explore LufSec's cybersecurity courses and hands-on training:👉 https://www.lufsec.com/courses/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=onramp&utm_campaign=career-guide-funnel&utm_content=s3e10-course

Season 3 of Inside Cyber Minds continues with an episode recorded onsite at Black Hat / DEF CON with Mackenzie Jackson, Field CTO of Aikido Security — a developer, former startup CTO, and one of the most recognizable voices in developer-first security.

AI is generating code faster than security can keep up, and Mackenzie's job is closing that gap: embedding security at every stage, from the first line of code to the MCP servers and agents developers use, all the way to runtime — while cutting the false positives that drown development teams.

He also comes clean about accidentally leaking his own real credential — while filming a video about how attackers steal leaked credentials.

We get into why secrets sprawl is provably getting worse, and the new twist nobody planned for: AI agents now hold the same over-permissioned API keys we built for deterministic systems — except agents act unpredictably. Your secrets problem is no longer just attackers finding them; it's your own agents doing weird things with them. Add supply chain attacks that raid the .env files on developer laptops, and the old "best practices" stop looking safe.

Where is application security headed as AI writes most of the code? Mackenzie's take: injection bugs fade, and attackers move to what tools can't easily find — logic flaws, context flaws, and the hidden assumptions AI makes when you don't tell it what matters.

This episode is about securing software at AI speed — and keeping developers in the fight instead of buried in alerts.

Topics Covered

From startup CTO (health tech + HIPAA) to developer securityThe honey token story gone wrongWhy secrets sprawl is provably getting worseAI agents + over-permissioned API keys: the new secrets riskSupply chain attacks targeting developers' machines and .env filesWhy "shift left" isn't left enough — security between prompt and codeIs AI writing more secure code, or just more vulnerabilities?Alert fatigue: meeting developers where they workThe implicit trust problem in the open source ecosystemAppSec in 5 years: logic bugs, context flaws, and AI assumptionsRethinking access and identity for the agent eraAdvice for developers moving into security

About Mackenzie Jackson

Mackenzie Jackson is the Field CTO of Aikido Security, an AI-native code security platform covering everything from the first line of code to runtime. Previously he was co-founder and CTO of health-tech startup Conpago and a security advocate at GitGuardian, where he spent years researching secrets sprawl. He hosts two podcasts: Secure Disclosure, on security leaders, and Bad Dependencies, on bad things happening on the internet.

🌐 https://www.aikido.dev/

About Inside Cyber Minds

Inside Cyber Minds is a cybersecurity podcast by LufSec featuring deep, unscripted conversations with hackers, CISOs, researchers, founders, and security leaders. The show focuses on mindset, decision-making, leadership, security culture, emerging threats, and the human side of cybersecurity.

Mackenzie JacksonField CTO, Aikido Securityhttps://www.aikido.dev/

#Cybersecurity #AppSec #DevSecOps #SecretsSprawl #SupplyChainSecurity #AICode #SecureCoding #OpenSourceSecurity #InfoSec #DEFCON #InsideCyberMinds #LufSec

Inside Cyber Minds S3E9 — Jayson E. Street: hacker, author, and "scientific hooligan" on robbing banks with permission, silver teaming, why security awareness training fails, and why hacking is not a crime. Recorded onsite at DEF CON.🛡️ This episode is all about social engineering, physical security, and the human side of hacking. To build practical offensive security skills, explore LufSec's cybersecurity courses and hands-on training: 👉 https://www.lufsec.com/courses/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=onramp&utm_campaign=career-guide-funnel&utm_content=s3e9-courseWe open Cybersecurity Awareness Month with one of the most recognizable humans in the hacker community: Jayson E. Street — hacker, author of the Dissecting the Hack trilogy, DEF CON Groups global ambassador, Hack Not Crime ambassador, and self-described "hacker helper human" — recorded onsite at DEF CON.Jayson has spent years walking into banks and government buildings around the world and robbing them — with permission (except that one time he robbed the wrong bank by accident). In this conversation he explains what all those break-ins taught him: in almost every case, the people didn't fail. Management failed them, by never empowering employees to question, to verify, to be the "roadblock" that stops an intruder.He takes us inside silver teaming — the approach he created in 2016, where instead of writing a report about who failed the audit, he lets himself get caught, then personally walks every person he compromised through exactly how it happened. Not a test. A teachable moment. He guarantees every client that he will get caught — because a red teamer rooting for their client to fail is doing it wrong.We also get the story behind "scientific hooligan" (it starts with a magician hacking an "unbreakable" encrypted telegraph in the 1800s), why Nikola Tesla and Hedy Lamarr were hackers, why calling cybercriminals "hackers" insults actual hackers, and his answer to the AI panic: the blacksmiths who adapted became mechanics — "if you can be replaced by AI, you could be replaced by a small shell script already."This episode is about the human layer: situational awareness over policy, teaching through stories, kindness as a security strategy, and why the hacker mindset has nothing to do with computers.Topics CoveredWho is Jayson E. Street — "hacker helper human" From blue team at a bank to robbing ten branches Silver teaming: getting caught on purpose as training The government facility epiphany that changed his career Why security awareness fails — and situational awareness works Empowering employees to question and verify Teaching security through fiction: the Dissecting the Hack trilogy Hack Not Crime: Tesla, Hedy Lamarr, and the black hat/white hat myth Advice for newcomers: imposter syndrome, failing, and community AI: blacksmiths became mechanics — adapt, don't panicAbout Jayson E. StreetJayson E. Street is a hacker, speaker, and author of the Dissecting the Hack book series — required reading at colleges in several countries. He is a DEF CON Groups global ambassador, a Hack Not Crime ambassador, and a simulated adversary with CovertSwarm, famous for permission-based bank and building "robberies" on five continents.🌐 https://jaysonestreet.com/ 🐝 https://covertswarm.com/About Inside Cyber MindsInside Cyber Minds is a cybersecurity podcast by LufSec featuring deep, unscripted conversations with hackers, CISOs, researchers, founders, and security leaders. The show focuses on mindset, decision-making, leadership, security culture, emerging threats, and the human side of cybersecurity.LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/lufsec/Jayson E. Street Hacker, Author & Simulated Adversary https://jaysonestreet.com/ https://covertswarm.com/#Cybersecurity #SocialEngineering #JaysonEStreet #Hackers #RedTeam #SecurityAwareness #PhysicalSecurity #HackNotCrime #InfoSec #DEFCON #InsideCyberMinds #LufSec

Inside Cyber Minds S3E8 — James Kettle, Director of Research at PortSwigger (Burp Suite), on HTTP request smuggling, why HTTP/1.1 must die, and the HTTP Terminator — an AI that invents novel attack techniques. Recorded onsite at DEF CON.🎓 Bonus: download the guide, and you'll unlock a free lesson from the LufSec course library.🛡️ This episode is all about web security research, offensive techniques, and AI-powered hacking. To build practical web hacking and offensive security skills, explore LufSec's cybersecurity courses and hands-on training: 👉 https://www.lufsec.com/courses/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=onramp&utm_campaign=career-guide-funnel&utm_content=s3e8-courseSeason 3 of Inside Cyber Minds continues with an episode recorded onsite at DEF CON with James Kettle (albinowax), Director of Research at PortSwigger — the company behind Burp Suite — and one of the most influential web security researchers of the last decade.If you've ever heard the terms HTTP request smuggling, web cache poisoning, or the single-packet attack, you've seen James's work. For roughly ten consecutive years he has taken the Black Hat USA stage with research that changed how the industry attacks and defends the web, and his techniques are built into the tools millions of security testers use — Burp Collaborator, Param Miner, Turbo Intruder, and the Web Security Academy.This year he brought something different: the HTTP Terminator — an autonomous AI system built to answer a provocative question. Can AI do novel security research? Not triage, not scanning: actually inventing new desync triggers, gadgets, and exploits — and proving them against real-world targets including banks, security vendors, and government systems. And he's open-sourcing it.We also dig into his campaign to kill HTTP/1.1 — why the protocol underneath most of the web is fundamentally unfixable, what "the desync endgame" means, and what has to happen before the industry finally moves on.This episode is about research at the frontier: how new attack classes get discovered, what AI changes about the economics of finding them, and what's left for human researchers when machines start inventing exploits.Topics CoveredHow James got into web security research The origin of HTTP request smuggling and desync attacks Why HTTP/1.1 must die — and what the desync endgame looks like The HTTP Terminator: an AI that invents novel attack techniques Testing AI-discovered exploits against banks, vendors, and governments Can AI do novel security research — or just scale old ideas? Building tools for millions: Burp Collaborator, Param Miner, Turbo Intruder The research process behind a decade of Black Hat talks What's left for human researchers in the AI era The next great attack surface on the webAbout James KettleJames Kettle (albinowax) is the Director of Research at PortSwigger, the company behind Burp Suite. He pioneered HTTP desync attacks, web cache poisoning, the single-packet attack, and server-side template injection exploitation, and designed much of the Web Security Academy. His 2026 Black Hat USA and DEF CON research, "Can AI Do Novel Security Research? Meet the HTTP Terminator," introduces an open-source autonomous system for discovering new attack techniques.🌐 https://jameskettle.com/ 🔧 https://portswigger.net/About Inside Cyber MindsInside Cyber Minds is a cybersecurity podcast by LufSec featuring deep, unscripted conversations with hackers, CISOs, researchers, founders, and security leaders. The show focuses on mindset, decision-making, leadership, security culture, emerging threats, and the human side of cybersecurity.LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/lufsec/James Kettle Director of Research, PortSwigger https://jameskettle.com/#Cybersecurity #WebSecurity #BurpSuite #RequestSmuggling #EthicalHacking #BugBounty #AIHacking #AppSec #InfoSec #DEFCON #InsideCyberMinds #LufSec