Man, shit is getting wild out there right now.
Change has always come fast in technology, so we’re all kind of used to it. But the arrival of AI has accelerated everything in a way that feels different. The adoption curve has been faster than anything I’ve seen in my 15+ years in this space. It’s exciting, a little scary, and it’s actively democratizing tools, especially in security.
Historically, security practitioners relied on vendors and third parties to develop and provide our tools. We didn’t have much choice. Building your own detection logic or vulnerability scanning from scratch wasn’t realistic for most teams, so we bought what was available. These tools were expensive to obtain and implement, which locked the best technology behind a paywall. Sometimes that paywall was actual dollars. Sometimes it was the expensive skills needed to deploy and manage complex platforms. Either way, it created a haves-versus-have-nots dynamic in the security space.
I often volunteer with nonprofits or the occasional small organization, and would often see just how woefully behind they were compared to enterprises. Not from lack of desire or awareness, but because they simply couldn’t afford to be at that level. A small nonprofit with a part-time IT person isn’t spinning up a SIEM or running continuous vulnerability assessments. They’re doing their best with whatever free tools they can find and hoping nothing bad happens. Meanwhile, enterprises with dedicated security teams and six-figure tool budgets operate in a completely different reality.
We have a rare opportunity right now. The acceleration of AI and the coding innovations that came with it mean we can push out new capabilities faster and cheaper than ever before. I think we’re about to see an explosion in the open source security space as concepts that used to be locked behind vendor paywalls become commodified. The barrier to building useful security tooling has dropped dramatically, and I’m here for it.
Washing Bear Labs wants to help drive that commodification. We want to build tools that work, share what we learn, and make security capabilities more accessible to people who couldn’t afford them before.
Anyways, no need for long-winded manifestos to kick this off. The proof will be in the output. Stay tuned or join us. Let’s build cool shit, share knowledge, and put power back in the hands of individuals, not just those with the largest wallets.
Oh and so many raccoon puns. It’s dumpster disco time.