{"slug": "champion-ethical-hacker-warns-ai-tools-like-mythos-will-make-competing-harder", "title": "Champion ethical hacker warns AI tools like Mythos will make competing harder", "summary": "Champion ethical hacker Valentina Palmiotti, known as Chompie, warned that powerful AI tools like Claude Mythos will soon make it impossible for even top human competitors to keep up, after winning major prizes at the annual Pwn2Own hacking competition in Berlin. Palmiotti told BBC News she entered this year's contest believing it might be her last chance, as AI systems are already automating the discovery of software vulnerabilities that once required sleepless \"zombie hacker mode\" sessions. Anthropic, the maker of Mythos, claims the model has found 1,600 vulnerabilities across hundreds of programs and is so dangerous it can only be released to select governments and cybersecurity institutions.", "body_md": "# Champion ethical hacker warns AI tools like Mythos will make competing harder\n\nAn ethical hacker who just won major prizes at a prestigious international competition says her days of competing could be numbered due to the rise of AI tools like Claude Mythos.\n\nValentina Palmiotti - better known as Chompie - was the most successful individual at the annual Pwn2Own hacking competition in Berlin.\n\nShe told BBC News that, for now, AI tools were helping her to win \"bug bounties\" - money given to hackers who spot vulnerabilities in online systems before they can be exploited by cyber-criminals.\n\nBut she said systems like Mythos were so powerful that even champion hackers like her would soon struggle to compete with them.\n\nAI has shaken the cyber-security world, with concerns focussing on Mythos in particular.\n\nIts maker, Anthropic, claims the model has been able to find 1,600 vulnerabilities in hundreds of software programmes.\n\nIt says that makes Mythos so potentially dangerous that it can only be released to a select few governments and cyber-security institutions.\n\nPwn2Own is run by the ZeroDay Initiative and invites human ethical hackers around the world to find vulnerabilities in specific products.\n\nNearly $1.3m (£970,000) was awarded to hackers this year who collectively discovered 47 brand new hacking methods on various programmes, websites and software.\n\nThe flaws have all been reported to grateful companies which are now fixing them before criminals can find the same holes.\n\nOn day one of the contest, Chompie successfully demonstrated how to hack one system linked to Nvidia - winning $20,000.\n\nBut she then said she had to enter what she called \"zombie hacker mode\" to prepare for the next day.\n\n\"As soon as I won the first prize I ran back to my hotel room to keep working on the other one. I worked from 6pm til 6am and didn't sleep,\" she said.\n\nIt was worth it, and footage from the event shows her looking happy and tired on stage as she successfully hacked into a Linux based system to win $50,000.\n\nChompie described \"zombie hacker mode\" as being locked into research and testing for hours fuelled by energy drinks and adrenaline, often wearing a black hoodie.\n\n\"It's not healthy,\" she laughed, but she insisted it was necessary.\n\nThis year many champions like Chompie have been using AI to help them while in zombie mode.\n\nShe said tools like Claude Code have enabled her to work faster for competitions, and in her day job as a security researcher for IBM X-Force.\n\nHer view was that hackers like her are currently in a \"sweet spot\" where AI was an aid.\n\nBut she predicted the tide would turn soon thanks to new models like Claude Mythos and GPT 5.5 Cyber.\n\n\"I competed in Pwn2Own this year because I thought it might be my last chance,\" she explained.\n\n\"That isn't to say that I think that there's going to be no room for security research or ethical hacking, but I think that a lot of the lower-hanging fruit will start to go away.\"\n\nChompie - who became the joint-first woman to compete in the 2024 Pwn2Own -said good or great hackers wouldn't be needed soon, and only the very best would be able to find new bugs and win prizes.\n\nIn that category she put people like Orange Tsai - another big winner in Berlin who has won many previous hacking prizes.\n\nThe hacker from Taiwan, who doesn't like to use his real name, led his team to win $375,000 (£278,000) by finding extremely complex hacking pathways.\n\nHe was more positive about the future for human bug hunters.\n\n\"For me, AI feels more like a really awesome assistant that helps accelerate my research workflow,\" he said.\n\n\"During research I usually come up with many interesting ideas, but unfortunately I still need to sleep, so I can't test everything one by one. AI can finally help free my hands,\" he says.\n\nOrange Tsai agreed AI was already forcing the bar higher but he hoped human creativity and intuition would always be able to find vulnerabilities that AI tools missed.\n\n## What about the bad guys?\n\nIf it gets harder for the good hackers to find ways into online systems, what does this mean for criminal hackers?\n\nThere is growing research that criminals are using AI to speed up their attacks - and in some cases create new pathways into systems - to carry out data breaches and ransomware attacks.\n\nHowever, the vast majority of cyber-attacks use long established and simpler methods without needing to find new bugs.\n\nThese can include phishing or social engineering - gaining access by sending fake emails to employees who click a nefarious link which gives hackers access to a company's systems.\n\nChompie thinks that ultimately AI tools will make it harder for all hackers which is good for internet security.\n\n\"I think that the tide is turning against offensive hackers. I think defence stands to gain a lot from the from this capability,\" she said.\n\nBut the benefits of AI to cyber security defenders could only be realised if these products are released responsibly, she added.\n\nThe good guys like her need to have access to the most powerful tools first, she argued, to find and fix holes before the bad guys.\n\n[Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter](https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsletters/zxh6cxs) to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. [Outside the UK? Sign up here](https://cloud.email.bbc.com/techdecoded-newsletter-signup).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/champion-ethical-hacker-warns-ai-tools-like-mythos-will-make-competing-harder", "canonical_source": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3r2zjpryzro", "published_at": "2026-05-27 19:03:34+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-27 19:15:11.270108+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-tools", "ai-safety", "ai-ethics", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Valentina Palmiotti", "Chompie", "Pwn2Own", "ZeroDay Initiative", "Anthropic", "Mythos", "BBC News", "Claude Mythos"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/champion-ethical-hacker-warns-ai-tools-like-mythos-will-make-competing-harder", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/champion-ethical-hacker-warns-ai-tools-like-mythos-will-make-competing-harder.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/champion-ethical-hacker-warns-ai-tools-like-mythos-will-make-competing-harder.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/champion-ethical-hacker-warns-ai-tools-like-mythos-will-make-competing-harder.jsonld"}}