Casey Ellis
Bugcrowd 2013 to 2025 — People and Places
A photo retrospective of Bugcrowd from 2013 to 2025 — the people, offices, and moments that built the security crowdsourcing category from a Sydney garage out.
For the Love of the Game: DistrictCon's Year 1 Junkyard
Notes from judging DistrictCon's Junkyard Year 1 — a Pwn2Own-style exploit contest targeting end-of-life devices. Disco balls, DNA sequencers, gym treadmills, and self-propagating game worms. Includes exploit chain diagrams for all eleven talks.
2026 security predictions
2026 cybersecurity forecast: China's PLA centenary looms, AI turns anyone into a malware developer, and economic pressure pushes more people toward cybercrime. Shift-left finally start working—but only for modern code. The rest of the internet? A triage trash fire.
2025 security predictions retrospective
This time of year, everywhere you see, security guys like me are sharing our hot takes for the year ahead. However, reflecting on the past year is equally important. I like to see how my previous predictions held up and how things actually played out.
First Principles: Bad guys are humans, they're creative and driven, and they don't quit.
Here's the bigger question: If we do finally achieve 100% success in automating cyber defense, will the "bad guys" pack their stuff up and go home?
Hacker Summer Camp 2025 — People, Places, and Things
A little photo diary of Hacker Summer Camp 2025.
Founders Helping Founders: When Known Vulnerabilities are Life or Death
On today’s episode, Jon Sakoda speaks with Casey on the early economics of paying people to hack companies, criminal creativity, and why founders need to fix their known vulnerabilities.
Peace-time Cyber vs War-time Cyber
A long read on how cybersecurity doctrine built during 15 years of geopolitical peacetime is failing as nation-state actors abandon restraint and discretion.
What You Give Away Might Be Worth More Than What You Keep
The sticking point is the word "free". If you do happen to get stuck there (and a lot of things will push you in that direction), a lot of the magic in the decision math gets missed. Everything has a Give and a Get and, if you're doing it right, nothing is ever given away for free.
If a tech solution falls in the forest...
A solution disconnected from it's problem isn't actually solving anything.
What the Netflix ‘Zero Day’ series got right about incident response
That said, the widespread nature of the effects shown in the six-part series are definitely plausible. Industrial control systems and the infrastructure that supports them are riddled with zero-day vulnerabilities, alongside the more common "known, yet unpatched" n-day vulnerabilities.
Bug Bounties, The Wanted Poster For Ethical Hackers — Future Secured Episode 35
Crowdsourced security empowers ethical hackers to protect digital assets, reshaping cybersecurity. Casey Ellis encourages entrepreneurs to lead with resilience, delegate wisely, prioritize health, and embrace innovation amid chaos for lasting impact and scalable success.