By Admin 
Right now, somewhere in the world, a hacker is testing the limits of your digital defenses. Whether it’s your bank, your go-to bakery, or your favorite streaming service, no one is truly safe. And if you’re a small or midsize business owner—anywhere from a solo entrepreneur to a 100-person operation—you’re an even bigger target. Unlike Fortune 1000 corporations that can afford elite security teams, smaller businesses often lack the resources to keep cybercriminals at bay.
In the old Wild West, only an outlaw could outmaneuver another outlaw. Today, in the lawless frontier of the internet, only a hacker can outsmart another hacker. EnterKyle Hanslovan, a cybersecurity prodigy who has spent more than half his life in the trenches of the dark web. What started as a teenage curiosity grew into an obsession, propelling him from a rough Florida neighborhood to the elite ranks of the NSA’s cyber warfare unit.
For 25 years, Hanslovan has stayed one step ahead of the world’s most dangerous hackers. His secret weapon? Knowing his adversaries inside and out. As the founder ofHuntress, a company valued at over $1.56 billion, he’s redefining cybersecurity with a simple but radical philosophy: Hackers aren’t anomalies—they’re the norm.
Don’t Hate the Player—Sharpen Your Game
So, what advice does this millennial mastermind have for business owners trying to survive in a world of relentless digital threats?
“Don’t hate the player—sharpen your aim.”
Quoting Ice-T, Hanslovan believes that resenting competition is wasted energy. Instead of fixating on others’ success, businesses should level up their own strategy. This mindset fueled his journey when he turned down multiple Fortune 500 job offers to build something of his own—only to be laughed out of investor meetings. Rather than giving up, he doubled down.
“If you want to outsmart a hacker, you have to think like one,” he says. “They don’t care about office politics or ‘the way things have always been done.’ They only care about what works. Break what needs to be broken. Build what needs to be built.”
That ethos shaped Huntress into an agile, hacker-inspired cybersecurity force, built differently from any security firm before it. Hanslovan understood that businesses shouldn’t aim to block every attack—they should focus on detecting and mitigating threats before they cause damage.
Building a Cybersecurity Army
Once Hanslovan proved his strategy worked, his next move was scaling it. Any great hacker knows that success lies in rapid replication. But that meant setting aside ego and prioritizing talent over pride.
“I reassess every year whether I’m the best person to lead this company forward. There’s no room for my self-image to slow down progress,” he admits. His philosophy? Hire people smarter than you and let them do their thing.
The Hacker Mentality: Fail Fast, Win Big
Perhaps the most surprising lesson Hanslovan borrows from hackers? Failure isn’t the enemy—it’s part of the process.
“If you fail 9,999 times trying to break into a network, it doesn’t matter—as long as you succeed on the 10,000th attempt,” he says. That persistence, that hunger to push boundaries, is what separates game-changers from the rest.
For Hanslovan, the thrill of the chase isn’t just about outsmarting criminals—it’s about relentless innovation. In a digital world where the only certainty is constant evolution, the businesses that survive won’t be the ones playing it safe. They’ll be the ones playing to win.
