Product Security · Offensive-Informed Defense · AI Security
Robert Lackey, product security engineer.
Security work should make engineers more capable.
I write about practical product security, hands-on exploitation for defenders, AI-assisted security work, and the habits that help teams build safer software.
Start Here
Four practical entry points into the work.
Product Security
Product Security For Beginners
Start with actors, authority, trust boundaries, controls, and evidence.
Offensive-Informed Defense
Offensive Security For Defenders
Turn exploitation practice into sharper defensive judgment and review questions.
AI Security
AI Security Review Notes
Review agents, tools, memory, retrieval, logs, and output trust.
Operating Philosophy
Product Security Manifesto
The principles behind product security that helps engineers keep building.
Published
External writing in trusted security publications.
Cribl Blog
AI-assisted vulnerability research at Cribl
The AI-assisted, human-validated workflow behind multiple vulnerability fixes and two credited CVEs: CVE-2026-56747 and CVE-2026-56748.
TechRadar Pro
Your tools aren't catching everything. Here's why threat hunting matters
Why security teams need curiosity, simulation, and better visibility to close the gap between alerts and real risk.
Cribl Blog
Why hands-on exploitation makes product security stronger
How practical exploitation experience helps product security teams find meaningful risk, prioritize better, and partner more effectively with engineering.
Dark Reading
Why Threat Hunting Should Be Part of Every Security Program
A practical case for treating threat hunting as a repeatable security habit, not a niche job title.
Cribl Blog
Threat Hunting 101: A Beginner's Guide to Proactive Cyber Defense
A beginner-friendly walkthrough of threat hunting fundamentals, baselining, anomaly investigation, and building stronger detection habits.
About
A technical security voice with a bias for usefulness.
I’m Robert Lackey, a product security engineer focused on secure design, threat modeling, code review, cloud security, AI security, and offensive-informed defense. My public work is intentionally focused on durable ideas: methods, learning paths, communication patterns, and practical security judgment that can be reused without exposing private work.
I care about security that meets engineers where they are. The goal is not to sound clever. The goal is to help people understand risk, choose a better path, and keep building.
Read more about Robert Lackey, product security engineerWriting
Field notes, not press releases.
Resources
Security learning that earns its keep.
Playbook
Offensive Security With AI
A public-safe playbook for using AI in vulnerability research without handing it the judgment.
Read the playbook- Scope Write down what is authorized, what is excluded, and what question is being tested.
- Trace Follow the path from input to consequence and do not skip the middle.
- Probe Use the smallest safe check that answers the next question.
- Decide Escalate, scope down, pivot, or stop based on the evidence.
Guide
Offensive Security For Defenders
A technical practice plan for turning exploitation mechanics into better design review, code review, evidence, and prevention.
Read the guideChecklist
Practical Threat Modeling
A lightweight worksheet for finding trust boundaries and risky assumptions early.
Use the checklistReference
AI Security Review Notes
A practical review checklist for AI features, agents, tool access, context, memory, logs, and output trust.
Review the notesPlaybook
Sink-First Code Review
A repeatable playbook for starting from sensitive operations and tracing backward to input.
Read the playbookTemplate
Minimal PoC Notes
A fill-in template for keeping hypotheses, evidence, cleanup, and research decisions honest.
Use the templatePrompts
Better AI Research Steering
Prompt patterns for keeping AI-assisted security research grounded in state, scope, and evidence.
Use the promptsGuide
Product Security For Beginners
A practical starting point for engineers who want to understand product security, threat modeling, secure design, and evidence-based review.
Read the guideSpeaking
Clear talks for technical teams.
Product security habits that make engineers faster and safer
What AI actually changes about application security work
Hands-on exploitation as professional development for defenders
How to communicate findings so they get fixed
Contact