It sounds like the plot to a suspenseful thriller or an entertaining tv-series but it’s really happening: a team of Dutch hackers has teamed up in order to fight digital crime. This gang of “hackers with a heart of gold” goes by the name of Zerocopter, which also sounds like a great name for a tv-show. Zerocopter’s lift-off is off to a flying start as they have raised €1.3M to further develop their security system.
Perfect Timing
The company sure picked the right time to announce the investment, as earlier this week the Dutch National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) presented a rapport that shows digital career criminals are the biggest threat to digital security in the Netherlands. Online career criminals are getting more and more professional at what they do and how they do it. Yet a lot of companies still have no idea of the precautions they should be taking to prevent themselves becoming victims of digital crime. Zerocopter has developed a permanent digital security system to prevent digital theft. Their software meets the recommendations made in the rapport.
Ethical Hackers
‘It should not be underestimated how dangerous these criminals are. Digital security has to become part of every organisation. Just like you close your front door when you leave your house’, co-founder Junior Meijering explains. Together with Zerocopter Head of researchers Olivier Beg, Meijering emphasizes they are ethical hackers. If companies hire their services it is definitely not a case of fighting fire with fire, as the Zerocopter pilots explain that there is a clear difference between ethical and malicious hackers. They are convinced that most hackers, like themselves, have the intention to create a safer online space. It definitely was the reason why they founded Zerocopter.
Worldwide security system
With the services of Zerocopter companies can arm themselves against the many cyber threats lurking in the digital space. The company uses hackers from all over the world to improve the digital security of companies and organisations. For Meijering, it is essential to use an international team of experts: ‘In order to prepare yourself against this form of crime it is important to use the latest insights of the digital hacker community, that way you’ll always be one step ahead of the criminals’.
Where did that money come from?…
With the €1.3M investment Zerocopter plans to continue to build its digital platform of hackers from around the world. Interestingly enough Zerocopter does not mention exactly where they got their €1.3M funding. Perhaps some shady criminals are about to discover their bank accounts are a lot emptier than they were just a few weeks ago…
image of anonymous hacker by Shutterstock
