Black Hat 2026: Why Threat Researchers Are Hoarding Zero-Days

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Is the AI "vulnpocalypse" already here? According to Casey Ellis , Founder of Bugcrowd and pioneer of Disclose.io , we aren't quite in an apocalypse yet, we're actually in a "slopdemic." The cost of discovering vulnerabilities has plummeted, flooding bug bounty and SOC triage queues with low-quality, noisy submissions. Because these queues are so overwhelmed, many highly skilled researchers are simply hoarding zero-days because reporting them has become too difficult. In this episode, Ashish sits down with Casey to unpack the major themes and mindset shifts from RSA and Black Hat 2026. Casey breaks down how AI is shrinking the OODA loop for defenders, forcing the industry to adopt a true…