Synack

Last updated
Synack, Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Security
Founded2013 in California
FoundersJay Kaplan, Mark Kuhr
Headquarters
Redwood City, California
,
United States
Key people
Jay Kaplan (CEO)
ProductsSecurity assessment
Number of employees
250 (2020)
Website synack.com

Synack is an American technology company based in Redwood City, California, United States. [1] [2] [3] The company uses a crowdsourced network of white-hat hackers to find exploitable vulnerabilities and a SaaS platform enabled by AI and machine learning to identify these vulnerabilities. [4] [5] Customers include government agencies and businesses in retail, healthcare, and the manufacturing industry. [6] [7]

Contents

Overview

Established in 2013 by former NSA agents Jay Kaplan and Mark Kuhr, Synack employs a network of freelance security analysts, or hackers, in over 80 countries to identify and address vulnerability and security issues. [2] [3] [4] [8] [9]

By April 11, 2017, Synack had 100 employees as well as a growing network of freelance hackers. [2] [4]

In 2018, Synack worked with the US Department of Defense to strengthen the Hack the Pentagon initiative, by vetting ethical hackers for continual assessment of defense websites, hardware, and physical systems. In June 2020, the company partnered with DARPA to check for data leakage and buffer errors in their new security prototype developed through the System Security Integration Through Hardware (SSITH) program. In July 2020, the Colorado secretary of state's office partnered with Synack to conduct penetration tests of its election systems ahead of the presidential vote.

Funding

Synack is funded by 16 investors. In April 2014, the company announced it had secured Series A funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Google Ventures, Allegis Capital, and Derek Smith of Shape Security. [1] [3] [10] In February 2015, the company raised US$25 million in Series B funding. [1] [11]

In April 2017, it raised $21M from Microsoft Ventures, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Singtel and prior investors. [4] [9] [12]

Recognition

CNBC named Synack a "CNBC Disruptor" company four times in a row, from 2015 to 2019. [13] [14] [15] In 2019, the company was once again named among CNBC Disruptor 50 for its Innovative Crowdsourced Security Platform. [16] According to Bloomberg, Synack is "the most trusted crowdsourced penetration testing platform." [16]

In 2020, the company was featured in America's Most Promising Artificial Intelligence Companies list by Forbes magazine and was also named in Gartner’s Top 25 Enterprise Software Startups. [17] [18]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Vinton, Kate (February 19, 2015). "Synack Raises $25 Million In Series B Funding To Crowdsource Security Globally". Forbes . Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Kirk, Jeremy (October 21, 2015). "Synack builds intel platform for its penetration testers". PCWorld . Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Lev-Ram, Michal (April 24, 2014). "For crowdsourced security startup, a carrot and a hack". Fortune . Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Miller, Ron (April 11, 2017). "Security startup Synack scores $21M investment from Microsoft, HPE and Singtel". TechCrunch . Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  5. ↑ Kuchler, Hannah (April 11, 2017). "Hacker-for-hire company Synack raises $21m". Financial Times . Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  6. ↑ Staff (15 May 2019). "Synack 2019 Disruptor 50". CNBC .
  7. ↑ "Synack's $52 Million Investment Fuels Future of Remote Security Testing from World's Elite Hackers". Businesswire . 28 May 2020.
  8. ↑ Yadron, Danny (2015-02-19). "Startup Takes Aim at Computer-Security Holes". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  9. 1 2 Larson, Selena. "Why the Pentagon wants people to hack it". CNNMoney. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Security testing platform Synack raises $7.5M". VatorNews. 2014-04-24. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Why the hackers at Synack need $25M to hunt down major security flaws | VentureBeat". venturebeat.com. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
  12. ↑ Liam Tung. "Ex-NSA bug bounty startup Synack lands $21m, eyes Australia for growth". CSO Australia. IDG Australia. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Meet the 2015 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies". CNBC. May 12, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Meet the 2016 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies". CNBC. May 7, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Meet the 2017 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies". CNBC. May 16, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  16. 1 2 "Synack Named to the 2019 CNBC Disruptor 50 for Innovative Crowdsourced Security Platform". Bloomberg.com. 2020-09-03. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  17. ↑ Ohnsman, Alan (July 3, 2020). "AI 50: America's Most Promising Artificial Intelligence Companies". Forbes magazine .
  18. ↑ Columbus, Louis (July 5, 2020). "Gartner's Top 25 Enterprise Software Startups To Watch In 2020". Forbes magazine .
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