UPDATED 02:30 EDT / APRIL 26 2022

SECURITY

Bug bounty platform Intigriti raises $23M to empower ethical hackers

Belgium-based bug bounty and vulnerability disclosure platform Intigriti NV said today it has raised €21.1 million ($23 million) in a new round of funding.

The Series B round, which was led by Octopus Ventures with participation from EnBW New Ventures and ETF Partners, is said to be the largest raise to date for a European crowdsourced security platform.

Intigriti’s platform connects companies with ethical hackers so they can provide an incentive for them to test the security of their websites and applications. A company will offer a bounty to any hacker that’s able to breach the security of a specific website or application. The hacker, assuming he or she is able to do that, will then explain exactly how it was done, in return for the bounty. That way, companies can learn where they’re vulnerable and try to fix things before a genuine bad guy exploits the same vulnerability.

Some of the bounties on offer are quite tempting. For instance, Intel Corp.’s bug bounty program offers payments of up to $100,000 for the most exceptional vulnerabilities discovered.

Intigriti claims to be the most dominant bug bounty platform of its kind in Europe, thanks to its “quality of services and high compliance standards.” The company says it has grown its revenue by more than 650% since its previous funding round in 2020, though it didn’t reveal specific revenue levels, and is now setting its eyes on the U.S. and Asian markets.

Intigriti Chief Executive Stijn Jans said his platform has become so successful that crowdsourced security is on the verge of overtaking the traditional security consultancy business.

“We anticipate crowdsourced security to be a default career option for talented cybersecurity graduates by 2026, surpassing consultancy in popularity,” Jans said. “While the remote working culture introduced new security risks, it also provided companies with the opportunity to work with international talent that was previously out of reach.”

Intigriti’s head of hackers, Inti De Ceukelaire, said the reason is that bug bounties are simply the most effective way of discovering vulnerabilities. “Our researcher’s automation flows have allowed Intigriti customers to detect vulnerabilities before any commercial scanner could,” he said.

Besides the funding round, Intigriti announced the launch of a new hybrid penetration testing offering that will give companies the option of working with select researchers. Companies will be able to assign researchers a specific task with an agreed timeframe, with any bounties paid out based on their results. As with the company’s traditional bug bounties, the hybrid pentests will come with Intigriti’s triage services, which validate the hacker’s findings.

Intigriti said it will use the funds from today’s round to grow its staff at its offices in the U.K., Europe and Singapore.

Image: TheDigitalArtist/Pixabay

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