Written by Satu on the 16th of June 2026
It has been quite a first year.
I started Helheim Labs a year ago. Well, now already a year and a quarter ago as time has a way of flying when one is having fun. I had a vision of providing people a way to hack AI and to learn about the vulnerabilities through trying to break the solutions. I also wanted to bring AI into places where security is a necessity and local is the way to go. So, as the year+ came to a close, I was still busily delivering AI into Locked Shields. So hence the quarter on top of the year and a bit overdue post.
So, let’s take a look at our first year at Helheim Labs. A year+ ago it was mostly me, with loaned hardware, one game and a lot of ideas. Now, I have an amazing sysadmin, financial advice, technical experts, social media support, and business advice to help me make the decisions that benefit all. I have the beginning of a local cloud that I can use to power the games and the solutions we offer.
We were able to bring AI targets to competitions and events. To support the next generation of ethical hackers, we donated a custom-built, hackable AI bot to RIA for their CyberWizards 2025 event. We brought an AI target to Crossed Swords 2025 learning a lot on what offering a target to a highly secure and complex cyber exercise means. We had a workshop for cybersecurity specialists at events like Disobey, Easterhegg, Why, Balccon, and Disarray, CyCon2026 and our games were included in the CtF’s of several of those conferences as well.
We built HackAI.fi, where we always have a select few of the games for testing and giving people the freedom to experiment and play with guardrails for AI. We’ve taught AI hacking for hundreds of people in the last year. And we now have a total of 8 games three of which were launched this spring. Two were launched at Disobey 2026 and the third at Taitaja 2026 to support the first year cybersecurity is a competition in the event.
We also joined Finland2055 to build resiliency through an AI powered game combining elements of role playing game, CtF and war games while being something unique. We created a collaboration with Fontys University of Applied Sciences and Turku University of Applied Sciences offering hacking opportunities and penetration testing of AI to students. And, last but not least, we brought our AI expertise to Locked Shields for the second time to continue the collaboration started in 2025.
The first year is going to be hard to beat with the second, but I do like a challenge. Our plans include things like building an open source testing framework and a dataset to test AI for compliance and security, a tool to check for bias, and maybe even some more games including topics like AI agents. The dataset gathered from the conferences is also inviting me to explore how the guardrails have been bypassed, which work and which do not. Our games will also be available to be licensed to use and maybe I’ll write the book I originally started gathering the data for. So stay tuned.
We’re thrilled about what lies ahead and are excited to continue our journey with the support of our partners, collaborators, and the broader cybersecurity community. Here’s to another year of exploration, learning, and growth in AI security!