Anand Prakash

Anand Prakash
Born	Rajasthan, India
Education	B.Tech Computer Science in VIT
Occupation	Ethical hacker

Anand Prakash is an Indian ethical hacker and entrepreneur ^{[1] [2]} from Rajasthan. ^{[3] [4]} He is the Founder & CEO of PingSafe, which SentinelOne acquired for over $100 million. ^{[5] [6]} He was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 2017 Asia list. ^{[7] [8] [9]}

Early life and education

Prakash was born in Bhadra, ^[10] Rajasthan, India. ^{[11] [12]} He studied B.Tech Computer Science at Vellore Institute of Technology. ^{[13] [14]}

Career

He started his career in 2014 as a security engineer at Flipkart. ^{[15] [16]} After this, in 2016, he started a red teaming startup named AppSecure. ^[17] Then, in 2021, another company named PingSafe was established, which was acquired in 2024 by American cyber security company SentinelOne for over $100 million. ^{[18] [19]}

Notable works

• He found a bug in 2016 on Facebook ^[20] which allowed the takeover of any account. ^{[21] [22] [23]}
• He discovered a bug in Uber in 2017 that allowed anyone to take Uber rides for free. ^[24]
• In 2018, he found a security flaw in Tinder, after which he was given a reward of ₹4 lakh (US$4,700). ^[25]
• In 2019, he found a bug in Uber, after which he was given a reward of $5500. ^[26]
• In April 2023, he found a "security flaw" in LinkedIn that could have led to the deletion of any posts. ^[27]

References

1. "Indian techie discovers Uber bug, bags Rs 4.6 lakh reward". The New Indian Express . 16 September 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
2. "Not an IITian, This Bengaluru Techie Sold his Company for USD 100 Million, Inspiring Tale of Anand Prakash". Times Now. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
3. "Hackers for good: How Anand Prakash rescued Facebook". Christian Science Monitor . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
4. Laik, Rohan (11 March 2016). "The Bounty Hunter: This 22-year-old Flipkart employee is worth Rs 1.3 crore! he is also the co founder of vedantu". The Economic Times . Retrieved 3 April 2024.
5. Haranas, Mark. "SentinelOne Buys PingSafe To 'Redefine Cloud Security'". CRN . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
6. Singh, Manish (8 January 2024). "SentinelOne acquires Peak XV-backed PingSafe for over $100 million". TechCrunch . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
7. "30 Under 30 Asia 2017: Enterprise Technology". Forbes . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
8. Shaikh, Shadma (9 March 2016). "Bengaluru boy finds Facebook bug, gets $15,000 for it". Deccan Chronicle . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
9. "US company buys Bengaluru cybersecurity startup PingSafe for $100million". Times of India . 11 January 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
10. Doshi, Vidhi (1 April 2016). "Meet the bughunters: the hackers in India protecting your data". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
11. Singh, Tanaya (20 February 2016). "This Engineer Earned Rs. 1.2 Crore from Finding Software Bugs in Facebook and Twitter". The Better India . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
12. "Not an IITian, This Bengaluru Techie Sold his Company for USD 100 Million, Inspiring Tale of Anand Prakash". Times Now . 6 February 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
13. "Meet Anand Prakash — a white hat hacker who's earned bug bounties from Facebook, Twitter, and Uber". Free Code Camp . 25 February 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
14. "Notable Alumni". Vellore Institute of Technology . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
15. "Meet Anand Prakash, one of India's best known 'white hat hackers'". Firstpost . 7 February 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
16. "INTERVIEW: This Indian Hacker Has Earned ₹2.2 Crore By Finding Bugs In Facebook, Twitter, And Other websites". HuffPost . 7 March 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
17. "This is where we are in Dubai: A local's guide from millennials and Gen Z". Gulf News . 18 March 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
18. McDowell, Steve. "SentinelOne Expands Unified Security Offerings With PingSafe Acquisition". Forbes . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
19. "NYSE-listed SentinelOne acquires Bangalore-based startup PingSafe". Business Standard . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
20. Waugh, Rob (8 March 2016). "Hacker could get into ANY Facebook account using simple password trick". Metro . Retrieved 3 April 2024.
21. Brandom, Russell (8 March 2016). "Facebook paid $15,000 to close a bug that could unlock any user's account". The Verge . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
22. "Bengaluru Techie Rewarded $15000 By Facebook For Finding A Bug". HuffPost . 9 March 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
23. Titcomb, James (8 March 2016). "Hacker reveals how he could take over any Facebook account and change its password". Telegraph . Retrieved 3 April 2024.
24. Conger, Kate (4 March 2017). "Researcher finds bug that allowed free Uber rides". TechCrunch . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
25. "This hacker was rewarded ₹4 lakh by Tinder and Facebook". GQ India . 23 February 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
26. "Indian Researcher Gets Rs 4.6 Lakh Reward For Discovering Bug In Uber App". NDTV . Retrieved 2 April 2024.
27. "Indian researcher spots security flaw in LinkedIn". The Hindu . 20 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2024.