The rise of autonomous AI-powered attacks makes the security expertise and visibility that MSPs have across customers even more critical, Huntress CEO Kyle Hanslovan tells CRN’s Security or Else! podcast.
The autonomous compromise recently disclosed by OpenAI shows clearly that the AI-powered threats that security experts have been warning about are moving from hypotheticals into reality, according to Huntress co-founder and CEO Kyle Hanslovan.
In an interview for the latest episode of Security or Else!—a new CRN video series hosted by senior editor Kyle Alspach—Hanslovan discussed OpenAI’s recent disclosure that some of its AI agents had gone rogue during a test and compromised AI platform Hugging Face.
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At this point, there’s no question that when it comes to autonomous hacking, “this is real,” Hanslovan said. “This to me crossed the threshold into, OK, this is very much not theory anymore.”
In the days following the recording of the interview, several more autonomous hacking incidents were disclosed, including incidents involving Anthropic’s Claude Mythos 5 model and additional compromises involving OpenAI models.
For MSPs, these developments show that human-speed security will not be enough, Hanslovan said.
Because autonomous attackers will be able to move rapidly across endpoints and customer environments, security teams that rely on manual investigation or disconnected point products will quickly be overwhelmed, he said.
Teams that “can’t move at the pace of the machine [and] can’t leverage AI-native workflows— there’s no way,” Hanslovan said. “There’s no way a human’s going to keep up with it.”
At the same time, far from diminishing the role of the MSP, the rise of autonomous attacks makes the security expertise and visibility that MSPs have across customers even more critical, according to Hanslovan.
Ultimately, when it comes to the fight against AI-powered hacking, “we’ve all been drafted—whether we like it or not,” he said.
During the interview, Hanslovan also offered his first-hand perspective from the 2021 Microsoft Exchange attacks and why the industry needs to see deeper collaboration among vendors, partners and law enforcement.
Meanwhile, Hanslovan reflected on Huntress’ recent crossing of $250 million in annual recurring revenue—and why protecting the “99 percent” remains his top priority going forward.
Check out the video here, and please like and subscribe if you enjoyed (available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple). Security or Else! features conversations with security experts and top executives about what’s hype and what’s real—and what channel partners truly need to focus on next in security and AI.
