Tim Jambor
Head of Offensive Security from Dortmund
I attack systems before anyone else does.
My field is offensive security: testing applications, APIs, cloud and source code the way real attackers would. Since AI entered the game, one question occupies me above all: who stays in control?
How I see AI and attacks
The methods aren’t new, the speed is
AI does not invent new attacks. It makes known ones faster and puts them within reach of people who could not pull them off before.
Defence starts with knowing
If you do not know which applications and processes you run, you cannot protect them. Only then is it worth focusing your effort on the most critical gaps.
Control beats tooling
An AI agent may attack, but never unsupervised. What matters is who approves every step and who can stop it.
“The difference between a test run gone off the rails and responsible offensive security is not the tool, but the control over it.”
What I’m working on
With my team at adesso I built AttackAI for exactly this. AI agents carry out authorised attacks, exploit vulnerabilities and chain individual findings into real attack paths. A human directs every engagement, risky steps need approval, and there is always a stop button.
Side project: Mission Control
For my expeditions I built my own tracking system.
A Garmin inReach sends my position by satellite, Mission Control shows route, check-ins and status live and automatically starts the alerting chain if a check-in is missed. It comes with a web app with push notifications and apps for iOS and Android.
Articles and talks
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Blog article (in German)16 October 2026
When AI itself becomes the attacker
How AI models broke into real systems during tests, and why control over the tool matters more than the tool itself.
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IT-Tacheles podcast (in German)7 October 2026
Pentest & AttackAI: if you don’t know your gaps, you’re not sovereign
With Peter de Lorenzi on AI-driven attacks, digital sovereignty and why nobody lets the AI work unsupervised.
About me
- Work
- Head of Offensive Security at adesso SE
- Focus
- Offensive security, red teaming, security of AI systems
- Volunteering
- Judge at the Dortmund district sports court, volunteer fire brigade
- Private life
- Solo expeditions through desert, jungle and ice
- Home
- Dortmund