In the world of computer hacking, the relationship between those who take a malicious approach to cracking a system and those who use the same techniques to understand system vulnerabilities, help fix them, and counter them at the same time. A schism has existed for a long time. malicious actors. Today, Hack the Box, one of his startups that built a platform to help nurture the latter group with a gamified approach, has 1.7 million users before expanding his business. announced a $55 million funding round.
The funding was led by Carlyle with participation from Paladin Capital Group, Osage University Partners, Marathon Venture Capital, Brighteye Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst Fund. The UK startup has not disclosed its valuation at this time. However, according to PitchBook, the UK-based startup has offices in New York, roots in Greece, and offices in Greece. (Of which, about $15 million in equity: the company says it has now raised about $70 million). The very modest valuation was last updated in 2021 after raising $10.6 million, at $52 million.
“Moderate” because the scale of what the company has achieved is pretty impressive. The 1.7 million community members who use the platform are individuals who have joined HTB to learn skills and obtain certifications, as well as approximately 1,500 companies, universities, governments, and individuals who have sent teams to join his HTB to enlist. It covers both other organizations. through their paces.
The company says it currently operates about 450 “hacking labs” on more than 300 machines. Similar to companies like Kahoot (who work in very different environments of K-12 education and corporate training), HTB’s learning environment is heavily influenced by gamification, simulations using avatars, and throwing It’s built around a designed narrative scenario. The user has access to a variety of sophisticated and classic cyber hacks that are built to mimic. There is also a “pro lab” tier that utilizes common network configurations such as Active Directory and fully patched environments to test and train people on various attacks and approaches on common enterprise tools and scenarios. To do. Penetration testing, misconfigurations, and circumvention of endpoint protection are just some of the situations that can be thrown at users.
In addition to this, we offer a training platform for individuals and teams, as well as a career platform where those who want to hire ethical hackers or who are looking for work can connect.
HTB is neither the first nor the only company to build cyber training around a gamified environment. Built in partnership with US government agencies, US Cyber Games is built as a mass-history player environment used to identify and train would-be white hat hackers. (There are also career services.) HTB is actually one of his sponsors and supporters of US Cyber Games. Other companies such as SafeTitan, Phished and Immersive Labs offer different approaches to raising awareness for both technical teams and employees. The latter is not a category HTB is currently working on, but it is a clear area of potential growth.
“Our mission is to create and connect cyber-enabled people and organizations through highly engaging hacking experiences that foster thinking outside the box,” said CEO and co-founder Harris Pilarinos in a statement. said inside. Cyber has changed, and defensive, reactive, and resilient postures are not fit for purpose in the face of an ever-increasing and evolving wave of sophisticated attacks. Fighting cybercriminals, rather than waiting to be attacked, requires new proactive attack and defense approaches. Personal Security From professionals to businesses, this means adopting a “hacker mindset” and learning to think and act like an attacker. This is the mindset we cultivated through Hack The Box. ”
What keeps us coming back to TC regularly at this point is the fact that certain segments of technology are having a really hard time getting funding. HTB continues to be one of the hottest categories he is. This is especially because security breaches have not slowed down in the same way as elsewhere in the economy. is one of the reasons for supporting
“The demand on security and IT professionals has never been higher. Industry-wide talent shortages and exponentially increasing cyber threats make it critical for professionals and organizations to maintain best-in-class security practices. Pioneering a constant stream of fresh, curated training and upskilling content in a fully gamified and intuitive environment that empowers individuals and organizations to tackle real-world hacking problems. We are excited about the next phase in the evolution of Hack The Box and proud to be a part of this journey.”
