What did John Scimone say about the hacker hierarchy?

He said the pyramid of hacktivists, criminal gangs and nation-states still exists, but the cost of entry and barriers to entry have crumbled. The least sophisticated attack tomorrow will be more sophisticated than anything seen a year ago.

How could AI agents help smaller companies with security?

Scimone said agents can deliver scale and expertise that smaller companies could never hire or build on their own. He described a future security program of one person overseeing 10,000 agents acting as top practitioners in their assigned roles.

What is Dell's connection to Anthropic's Project Glasswing?

Dell is a partner in Project Glasswing, which gives vetted organizations access to powerful AI tools to secure critical systems. Scimone noted the program has drawn new members and was recently folded into a broader verification program.

AI Safety & AlignmentSiliconANGLE AI11h agoOct 21, 2026, 04:00 JST

Dell security chief John Scimone: AI crumbles hacker barriers to entry

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3 Key Points

What happened
Dell President and Chief Security Officer John Scimone said at the Dell Technologies New York Symposium that agentic AI has not erased the hacker hierarchy but has handed lower-tier actors tools once reserved for nation-states.
Why it matters
If the cheapest attack available tomorrow outpaces anything seen a year ago, security teams at banks and other institutions face threats arriving at a speed and scale that make yesterday's practices insufficient, by his account.

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Context & Analysis

Scimone's warning came at the Dell Technologies New York Symposium, where financial transformation powered by artificial intelligence is being framed as two races at once. Banks and other financial institutions are pushing to turn data into action with AI, while their security teams prepare for a wave of agentic AI-driven threats. His point is that the second race is being reshaped by how cheaply attackers can now obtain advanced capabilities.

The hierarchy of hacktivists, criminal gangs and nation-states has not disappeared, according to Scimone. What has changed is the cost of entry: lower-tier actors can now obtain tools once reserved for the top of the pyramid. He put it bluntly, saying the least sophisticated attack tomorrow will be more sophisticated than the world has ever seen a year ago.

Dell is already applying frontier models to its own defenses, and Scimone framed the defensive side as an opportunity as much as a burden. The fundamentals of identity, access management and detection still apply, he said, but attacks now arrive at a speed and scale that make yesterday's practices insufficient. For organizations that never could staff a full security team, agents may offer a way to add scale and expertise beyond what they could hire, he suggested.

FAQ

What did John Scimone say about the hacker hierarchy?: He said the pyramid of hacktivists, criminal gangs and nation-states still exists, but the cost of entry and barriers to entry have crumbled. The least sophisticated attack tomorrow will be more sophisticated than anything seen a year ago.
How could AI agents help smaller companies with security?: Scimone said agents can deliver scale and expertise that smaller companies could never hire or build on their own. He described a future security program of one person overseeing 10,000 agents acting as top practitioners in their assigned roles.
What is Dell's connection to Anthropic's Project Glasswing?: Dell is a partner in Project Glasswing, which gives vetted organizations access to powerful AI tools to secure critical systems. Scimone noted the program has drawn new members and was recently folded into a broader verification program.

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