Models speed up analysis, but the main work is still done by the brain and experience.
The image of the "lone wolf in the hood" is becoming less and less accurate. In a recent report, Bugcrowd security researchers describe a different world: vulnerability discovery is increasingly becoming a team effort, and artificial intelligence is becoming a common tool, a necessity for many to begin a vulnerability assessment.
The authors of the report "Inside the Mind of a Hacker 2026" surveyed and interviewed over 2,000 participants on their platform. The company calls this the "era of human intelligence augmentation," where the strengths of humans and machines are complementary, rather than competing for supremacy.
The most noticeable shift concerns artificial intelligence. Eighty-two percent of respondents already use it in their workflow, and 74% believe it has increased the value of their work. The report itself describes this simply: tools based on large language models speed up routine tasks, help with analysis and presentation of results, and ultimately free up time for complex discoveries.
The second major change is the rise of the "team" approach. 72% believe that team testing produces better results, and around 80% believe it's faster. When it comes to critical vulnerabilities, the effect is also noticeable: approximately 60% say they find more truly serious issues when working with a team. The report explains this more simply: the technology stack is becoming more complex and changing so rapidly that it's increasingly difficult for a single person to maintain expertise across all areas, so teams cover each other's blind spots.
At the same time, researchers point to a problem that's the easiest for businesses to address organizationally. 71% have discovered a new vulnerability in the past 12 months, and 85% believe that reporting a critical issue is more important than profiting from it. However, 65% admit to having failed to disclose a vulnerability at least once due to the lack of a clear reporting channel. This is a clear signal for companies: a transparent process for receiving and processing reports is sometimes more important than any slogans about "security by default."
The community's profile is also quite specific. Ninety-two percent of respondents are under 35, 81% of those who work part-time also work in security-related fields, and about 20% identify as having neurodevelopmental disabilities. According to the report, the majority of participants are male, and a significant proportion speak two or three languages.
Another sentiment indicator sounds unexpectedly harsh: 56% believe hacking is increasingly driven by geopolitics rather than curiosity. Against this backdrop, the report's main conclusion appears pragmatic: "good" hackers haven't disappeared, but their work is changing under real-world pressure, and the organizations that learn to deal with them more quickly, clearly, and on an equal footing will benefit.
The image of the "lone wolf in the hood" is becoming less and less accurate. In a recent report, Bugcrowd security researchers describe a different world: vulnerability discovery is increasingly becoming a team effort, and artificial intelligence is becoming a common tool, a necessity for many to begin a vulnerability assessment.
The authors of the report "Inside the Mind of a Hacker 2026" surveyed and interviewed over 2,000 participants on their platform. The company calls this the "era of human intelligence augmentation," where the strengths of humans and machines are complementary, rather than competing for supremacy.
The most noticeable shift concerns artificial intelligence. Eighty-two percent of respondents already use it in their workflow, and 74% believe it has increased the value of their work. The report itself describes this simply: tools based on large language models speed up routine tasks, help with analysis and presentation of results, and ultimately free up time for complex discoveries.
The second major change is the rise of the "team" approach. 72% believe that team testing produces better results, and around 80% believe it's faster. When it comes to critical vulnerabilities, the effect is also noticeable: approximately 60% say they find more truly serious issues when working with a team. The report explains this more simply: the technology stack is becoming more complex and changing so rapidly that it's increasingly difficult for a single person to maintain expertise across all areas, so teams cover each other's blind spots.
At the same time, researchers point to a problem that's the easiest for businesses to address organizationally. 71% have discovered a new vulnerability in the past 12 months, and 85% believe that reporting a critical issue is more important than profiting from it. However, 65% admit to having failed to disclose a vulnerability at least once due to the lack of a clear reporting channel. This is a clear signal for companies: a transparent process for receiving and processing reports is sometimes more important than any slogans about "security by default."
The community's profile is also quite specific. Ninety-two percent of respondents are under 35, 81% of those who work part-time also work in security-related fields, and about 20% identify as having neurodevelopmental disabilities. According to the report, the majority of participants are male, and a significant proportion speak two or three languages.
Another sentiment indicator sounds unexpectedly harsh: 56% believe hacking is increasingly driven by geopolitics rather than curiosity. Against this backdrop, the report's main conclusion appears pragmatic: "good" hackers haven't disappeared, but their work is changing under real-world pressure, and the organizations that learn to deal with them more quickly, clearly, and on an equal footing will benefit.
