Suzu Labs announced the acquisition of Emulated Criminals, a boutique firm specializing in adversary emulation and continuous red teaming, to strengthen its AI-driven cybersecurity platform and expand its ability to deliver continuous threat validation.
The acquisition enhances Suzu Labs’ approach to security by combining AI-powered risk management with human-led adversarial testing. By integrating Emulated Criminals’ capabilities, the company aims to move beyond traditional point-in-time security assessments toward continuous, behavior-driven validation of enterprise defenses. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
As part of the transaction, Suzu Labs is launching a new Continuous Adversarial Operations practice, led by Emulated Criminals’ leadership team, including Dahvid Schloss and Ann Rinaldi. The team brings experience from U.S. Special Operations and offensive cyber operations, introducing a “train how you fight” methodology designed to simulate real-world attack scenarios at scale.
The combined platform enables organizations to test their defenses continuously through multi-vector attack simulations, including phishing campaigns, ransomware scenarios, insider threats, and physical intrusion testing. This approach is intended to validate not only security technologies but also the human and operational processes responsible for defense.
Suzu Labs’ “Hacker in the Loop” model blends AI-driven automation with human expertise, emphasizing that while AI can accelerate threat discovery, human operators remain essential for judgment, execution, and validation. The integration of Emulated Criminals strengthens this model by adding deep adversary emulation and offensive security expertise.
The company offers a broad suite of services, including penetration testing, incident response, virtual CISO leadership, AI risk advisory, and exposure monitoring, positioning itself as a comprehensive cybersecurity partner for organizations navigating digital transformation and AI adoption.
The acquisition comes as cyber threats become more sophisticated and increasingly leverage automation and AI, driving demand for continuous, realistic testing environments that can keep pace with evolving attack techniques.
KEY QUOTES:
“AI is cheapening the discovery side of offensive security, and that is fine with us. Discovery was never where the real work was. The real work is judgment, campaign design, and detection validation. That is what Adversarial Exposure Validation is actually about, and none of it scales through automation alone. It requires Hacker in the Loop, the human-led layer of AEV that automation cannot replicate. Dahvid Schloss and his team built the depth in adversary emulation and offensive malware development we needed, and they are now the Suzu Labs Continuous Adversarial Operations team. Not automation alone. Not humans alone. Hacker in the Loop.”
Mike Bell, Founder And CEO, Suzu Labs
“Building Emulated Criminals has been an incredible and quite enjoyable journey, and I’m excited to share our next chapter as we officially join forces with Suzu Labs. Before, our focus was strictly high-end bespoke offensive security services, helping clients truly understand how to ‘Train how they fight.’ But now, by combining our flagship continuous adversarial emulation service, which we call Emulated Crime as a Service, with Suzu’s deep defensive and advisory expertise, we can offer even more to our clients with a truly 360-degree approach to security.”
“At our core, we have always cared most about the betterment of our industry. This move lets us amplify that contribution and address new and existing security challenges at a much larger scale. I will always live by the ‘Train how you fight’ motto, and I know Suzu Labs has the same mentality. I look forward to working with everyone in this new endeavor.”
Dahvid Schloss, COO, Suzu Labs (Former CEO, Emulated Criminals)
