Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    HackerOne Names Open-Source Veteran Marten Mickos as CEO

    By
    Sean Michael Kerner
    -
    November 11, 2015
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Marten Mickos

      Marten Mickos is a well-known technology executive in the open-source and cloud realms, but he’s less known—if known at all—in the security industry. That’s about to change, as bug bounty vendor HackerOne named Mickos its CEO today.

      Mickos’ background includes stints as CEO of open-source database vendor MySQL, which Sun Microsystems acquired for $1 billion in 2008, and CEO of open-source cloud vendor Eucalyptus, which Hewlett-Packard acquired in 2014.

      HackerOne was founded in 2012, and in a recent video interview with eWEEK, Alex Rice, the company’s co-founder and chief technology officer, explained the company’s roots and its core business model.

      HackerOne has raised $34 million in funding, and one of the company’s lead investors, Benchmark, also helped to fund Eucalyptus. As it turns out, it was Bill Gurley, general partner at Benchmark, who introduced Mickos to HackerOne.

      “I got a ping from Bill Gurley, and then Merijn Terheggen [co-founder of HackerOne] reached out and I had a discussion with him,” Mickos told eWEEK.

      Mickos candidly admitted that while he knew, of course, that security is an enormous challenge, he initially wasn’t mentally engaged with the idea of the security business until he spoke with Terheggen. In conversations with Terheggen, Mickos said he came to understand the business model of HackerOne and became very interested very quickly. HackerOne runs bug bounty programs for companies in an effort to use its community of security researchers to help secure its customers.

      “I surprised myself how quickly I got very excited about the HackerOne business and was very interested in learning how to deal with serious security issues,” he said. “Vulnerabilities are exploited by the worst criminals in the world, and here with HackerOne is a way of finding vulnerabilities and eradicating them in a way that uses the intelligence of the crowd.”

      While Mickos is not a veteran of the security market, using the intelligence of the crowd, or a community, is an idea he’s very familiar with, as it’s the basis for all open-source software. In open-source software, there is the often repeated Linus’ Law, which holds that with enough eyes all bugs are shallow. At HackerOne, that same basic idea is manifest with bug bounty programs.

      “The only solution to the problem of modern security is to enlist a large group of people who think in their own ways and can find bugs that no software or robot can find,” Mickos said. “Mankind is so unique in that it creates bugs that only human beings can find.”

      While automation does serve a purpose for building and testing software, Mickos emphasized that there are certain types of flaws that machines will simply never detect.

      “Every human brain has 86 billion neurons, and if you take a whole community, that’s a lot of neurons,” he said. “That’s very powerful.”

      From a business perspective, Mickos already has a basic plan for his first 90 days as CEO of HackerOne. One of his first steps will be to do some additional hiring to enable HackerOne to expand more rapidly.

      “We have work to do in operationalizing our go-to-market efforts and sales, identifying the best way to generate leads and get customers on board,” he said. “HackerOne is doing very well, but we’re now at the volume where operationalization is needed.”

      Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.

      Sean Michael Kerner
      Sean Michael Kerner is an Internet consultant, strategist, and contributor to several leading IT business web sites.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×