The Politics of Hacking Back, the Origins of ExploitGym, and Water Plant Attacks

<p>This week we discuss the new White House memo on using private sector operators in offensive cyber operations, Lindsey's deep dive into the origins of the ExploitGym AI benchmark, and the rash of attacks on water utilities in the U.S.<strong>Links</strong>Inside ExploitGym: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&amp;redir_token=QUM4Zm9rVDRyTXNvYUlGdEYzc0hkTjdVUjhpWXxBR3JiS2FudGwxLXVkZ0EtZG1Kd0dFWHBZQXVLU25RM05KeC1zSDdPLUppV3d3aTMteDVOcElnZVZjdnA0R05vOXNRT1daSndoakdYYXZKbC1zMnVsRlhid016Y25vMzV0ZXdy&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fdecipher.sc%2F2026%2F08%2F20%2Finside-exploitgym-how-researchers-are-measuring-ai-agent-exploitation-capabilities%2F&amp;v=wsjmLTr0I_U" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://decipher.sc/2026/08/20/inside...</a>White House memo: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&amp;redir_token=QUM4Zm9rUjUtWFZjQlFVc010WmFkS2NEQWtrSXxBR3JiS2FrMXlfUkt2eUg4ZVVDbWttQlM3cHpYX0NWOTdZZGVJYjJUejhhR1Y3aDd1TERpcmtEdjI2MU5lLUF1WVZKaVR1TWZUdVVILUNTQmhMYmtEWlhYWldiSVQwREhHMGdJ&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.whitehouse.gov%2Fpresidential-actions%2F2026%2F06%2Fsecuring-the-nation-against-advanced-cryptographic-attacks%2F&amp;v=wsjmLTr0I_U" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidenti...</a>OpenAI post: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&amp;redir_token=QUM4Zm9rU3M1V0dMamk2SnFRcFBsM0VocUhBU3xBR3JiS2FtaFdzTWVaTW1SZWJmV194UkN6ZnBtWE5FTHgzU0w3bHVDd25zTzFZZFF4RTZGYkZFYlBzbFdMMzhvekQyVFdldm5ZNmk5S2wwSDdxUEw3V0RBaktndndWTkFzMURZ&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fopenai.com%2Findex%2Fthe-defenders-window%2F&amp;v=wsjmLTr0I_U" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://openai.com/index/the-defender...</a></p>