AI isn’t changing how attacks work. It’s changing how fast and how far they scale.
In this episode of CISO Unscripted, Mitch Mayne sits down with Mike Spisak, Head of Cybersecurity R&D at Unit 42, to break down what’s actually happening on the front lines.
Attackers aren’t reinventing tradecraft. They’re accelerating it. AI is acting as a force multiplier, allowing a single operator to scan, test, and iterate at a pace that used to require a team. What used to take coordination and time can now happen continuously and at scale, often inside environments that already carry implicit trust.
The result is asymmetric pressure. Defenders are still operating at human speed. Attackers are not.
This conversation focuses on what matters for security leaders. Why scale, not novelty, is the real shift; where exposure is increasing, often in places that already felt trusted; and what has to change in your security model to keep up.
00:00 AI-powered malware that builds itself in real time
00:26 Why AI is dominating the 2026 Unit 42 Global Incident Response Report
01:13 Where AI is showing up most clearly in attacks today
02:22 Beyond phishing: vulnerability research at scale and "old chaos"
03:06 The 25-minute exfiltration window
03:37 One attacker, a horde of agents: the asymmetric campaign
04:52 Efficiency vs. actual shift – how AI is changing attack models
06:42 Vibe coding and the "it looks right" trap
08:39 Shadow infrastructure, the AI insider, and self-generating malware
11:33 Why we must fight AI with AI
12:52 The importance of data, sensors, and context
14:12 Platform consolidation as a survival strategy
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