Hack The Box & Semperis team up on identity training

Hack The Box and Semperis have formed a strategic alliance focused on identity resilience, combining identity security expertise with hands-on cyber training.

The companies will work together on training programmes, educational material and industry initiatives designed to help security teams prepare for identity-based attacks.

The alliance responds to a growing concern in corporate security: identity systems have become a frequent target as companies manage hybrid environments and adopt more AI-led tools. Many organisations still struggle to detect, respond to and remediate attacks affecting systems such as Active Directory, Entra ID, Okta and Ping Security before they escalate into wider outages.

Under the arrangement, Hack The Box will provide its cyber readiness platform, while Semperis will contribute its expertise in hybrid identity security. Together, they aim to help enterprise security teams build practical skills, improve workflows and strengthen incident response.

Training focus

Planned work includes customer and partner readiness programmes that combine Semperis' identity threat knowledge with Hack The Box labs, exercises and training pathways. The alliance will also produce educational content informed by Semperis research into Active Directory and Entra ID threats.

Another part of the partnership involves collaboration around Purple Knight, Semperis' open-source identity security vulnerability assessment tool for Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta environments. Semperis also highlighted Forest Druid, another community tool used alongside Purple Knight by tens of thousands of companies worldwide.

For Hack The Box, the deal adds a clearer identity security element to a business known for practical cyber training and simulation. It says it has a community of more than 4 million members and more than 800 enterprise customers, including Fortune 500 groups, government agencies and managed security service providers.

Semperis says more than 1,200 organisations use its products and services, including more than a quarter of the 100 largest US companies. The company focuses on protecting identity infrastructure in multi-cloud and hybrid settings and says it serves customers in more than 40 countries.

The tie-up reflects a broader trend in cybersecurity spending towards linking technology purchases with workforce preparedness. Identity systems sit at the centre of access control across corporate networks, and attacks on those systems can quickly disrupt business continuity if defenders cannot isolate threats or restore trusted access.

Haris Pylarinos outlined how Hack The Box views the challenge.

"Identity resilience is not just a tooling challenge. It is a people and readiness challenge," said Haris Pylarinos, Founder and CEO of Hack The Box.

"Semperis brings deep identity-security expertise and a strong commitment to doing what is right for the industry. Together, we can help security teams turn identity-risk insight into hands-on practice, stronger workflows, and a more confident response," Pylarinos said.

Semperis framed the partnership in similar terms, arguing that defenders need both visibility into identity risk and staff who know how to act on it during an incident.

"At Semperis, our 'Force for Good' mission means doing right by defenders and the broader cybersecurity community," said Marty Momdjian, General Manager, Ready1 & Strategic Initiatives at Semperis.

"As organisations adapt to new AI-related security threats, they need both visibility into identity risk and the human skills to respond effectively. Our alliance with Hack The Box reflects that commitment by helping defenders strengthen identity resilience in practice. Through community tools like Purple Knight and Forest Druid, which are used by tens of thousands of companies worldwide, we're helping organisations better understand identity threats and prepare their teams to respond," Momdjian said.

The partnership also underlines how vendors are trying to connect security assessment tools with operational training rather than treating them as separate activities. In identity security, where a misconfiguration or privileged account compromise can spread quickly, the ability of staff to rehearse response steps can matter as much as the underlying software.

Semperis says modern attacks are increasingly won or lost at the identity layer, where failures can escalate into broader business crises. The alliance is intended to address that gap by turning technical findings into practical exercises for defenders.