Singtel Innov8 and HPE are some of the big investor names behind the first hacker-powered intelligence platform to the world.
That platform has been developed by US-based company Synack. The company plans to enter the Asia Pacific market while scaling adoption across the US and Europe.
Synack uses a global crowdsourced network of 'ethical hackers' who have been intensely vetted. It then shares this information with global organisations and government entities.
"The best defense is a good offense. Businesses can only stay one step ahead of the adversary by beating them at their own game," comments Jay Kaplan, CEO and co-founder of Synack.
The company raised $21.25 million in Series C round funding, led by Microsoft Ventures. The company now has $55 million worth of funding. Microsoft Ventures will have a seat on Synack's board, alongside Proofpoint CEO Gary Steele on the company's Board of Directors.
"Bringing Microsoft Ventures, HPE and Singtel Innov8 on board highlights their ongoing investment in security for their products and customers. We have a shared vision for the future of cybersecurity and see a huge opportunity for alignment in platform development and scaling channels to market," Kaplan says.
According to Synack, Microsoft and HPE are forward-thinking in terms of security. It must be part of an organisation from the beginning of its formation.
"Traditional security testing presents many challenges that Synack tackles head-on with an innovative, crowd-focused approach. Based on their already strong market traction and history of working with Fortune 500 enterprise customers, we look forward to seeing what Synack accomplishes next," comments Nagraj Kashyap, corporate vice president at Microsoft Ventures.
Synack has a global network of security researchers, uncover critical security vulnerabilities not detectable by traditional solutions.
"We are excited to invest in Synack. Synack brings an exciting new crowdsourced approach to penetration testing and together we will help solve our customers' pressing cybersecurity challenges," says Vishal Lall, SVP, Strategy and Ventures, HPE.
The company recently conducted a "Hack the Pentagon" program, in which more than 2500 hours were dedicated to finding and exploiting Department of Defense assets. It took fewer than four hours to find the first vulnerability, which was confirmed, triaged and accepted by the Department within 24 hours.
