What Replaced the Nation State in Hacking?

George Kurtz says ablated models with no real guard rails flattened the pyramid of pain, and the new apex predator is the agent state, not the nation state. A hacktivist today has the same level of capability a nation state had just a few years ago.

The base of the pyramid is the hacktivist, the least level of sophistication and the greatest number of adversaries. The middle band is e-crime, more sophisticated and a few less than all the hacktivists. The top is the nation-state actor, the most sophisticated and the least number, relatively speaking. Models that are ablated have no real guard rails. They took very complex topics, techniques, and cost and flattened the entire pyramid. The pyramid of pain has been totally blown up.

The agent state sits at the top. The same level of capability a nation state had just a few years ago now sits with a hacktivist.