Black October! What Is Happening to the Internet? | Hari Mulackal & Odysseas Lamtzidis
October 24, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readBlack October: Why the Internet Is Under Siege
"Hacking has now become scalable," says Hari Mulackal, CEO of Cantina Security. "You can build a factory where you give it a website and it will go hack it. You don't even have to think about cost because it will cost $10 as opposed to two weeks of human time."
The cybersecurity world is calling October 2024 the worst month in history. But according to two security experts who have been watching this unfold from the inside, the public panic is only catching up to a trend that has been building for 18 months. Hari Mulackal and Odysseas Lamtzidis, CEO of Philex, joined Bankless to explain what is actually happening, why it matters, and what individuals can do.
The Tipping Point: When Hacking Became Industrial
The core shift is not a single vulnerability or attack. It is economic. In the past, hacking a company required skilled humans spending weeks or months, meaning attackers needed a clear return on investment. Crypto was a natural target because the payoff was immediate. Web2 companies with customer databases were harder to monetize given the effort required.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:01) **Hari: The Alarmist View Misses the 18-Month Trend** - Hari argues the "Black October" hype is misleading; the AI-driven security shift has been building since early 2024.
- 2 (02:59) **Odysseas: The Tipping Point Is Cheap, Scalable Scanning** - The new capability is the ability to "blast out on the internet and just scan everything" for vulnerabilities.
- 3 (04:06) **Hari: Why It Will Get Worse - The Economics of Hacking Are Exponential** - The cost of AI-powered hacking is dropping 10x every 6-12 months, making attacks a scalable factory process.
- 4 (06:56) **Hari & Odysseas: The Real Harm Is Data, Reputation, and Second-Order Effects** - The economic damage is real and measurable, even if not always immediate.
- 5 (11:09) **Hari: The New Danger - AI Agents Know Everything About You** - The threat is no longer just leaked passwords; AI agents can synthesize personal data to craft hyper-personalized attacks.
- 6 (14:17) **The Default Future: Data Becomes Free on the Internet** - The interview establishes the worst-case trajectory: all data will be exploitable unless action is taken.
- 7 (16:46) **Hari: The Zero-Day Clock Is Now Negative** - Companies are living on borrowed time and must act immediately.
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Show Notes
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Is AI turning the entire internet into a dark forest? Security experts Hari Mulackal and Odysseas Lamtzidis join David Hoffman to unpack Black October, why AI-powered hacking is becoming cheaper and more scalable, how defenders are falling behind, and what it means for your crypto and personal data.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:08 Black October: Cybersecurity’s New Reality
1:01 Why Cyber Incidents Are Surging
4:06 AI Makes Hacking Cheap and Scalable
6:46 The Real-World Cost of Data Breaches
11:00 AI, Personal Data, and Targeted Scams
15:32 Is Mass Data Exposure Inevitable?
18:02 What the CVE Explosion Reveals
20:50 Can AI Defenders Keep Up?
23:22 Why Crypto May Be Better Prepared
27:34 Are Crypto Assets Still Safe?
31:41 A Silver Lining After the Cyber Turbulence
34:18 Practical Security Advice for Individuals
36:05 Redundancy, Self-Custody, and Limiting Risk
38:02 Simple Steps to Protect Your Wallet
40:39 What Crypto Custodians Should Do
41:29 Security Startups and How They Can Help
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