Anand Prakash

Anand Prakash
Founder & CEO of @PingSafeAI; Top white-hat hacker
Born
Rajasthan, India
EducationB.Tech Computer Science in VIT
OccupationEthical hacker

Anand Prakash is an Indian ethical hacker and entrepreneur[1][2] from Rajasthan.[3][4] He is the Founder & CEO of PingSafe, which SentinelOne acquired.[5][6] He was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 2017 Asia list.[7][8][9]

Early life and education

Prakash was born in Bhadra,[10] Rajasthan, India.[11][12] He studied B.Tech Computer Science at Vellore Institute of Technology.[13][14]

Career

He started his career in 2014 as a security engineer at Flipkart.[15][16] After this, in 2016, he started a red teaming startup named AppSecure.[17] Then, in 2021, another company named PingSafe was established, which was acquired in 2024 by American cyber security company SentinelOne for over $100 million.[18][19]

Notable works

  • He found a bug in 2016 on Facebook[20] which allowed the takeover of any account.[21][22][23]
  • He discovered a bug in Uber in 2017 that allowed anyone to take Uber rides for free.[24]
  • In 2018, he found a security flaw in Tinder, after which he was given a reward of ₹4 lakh (US$4,700).[25]
  • In 2019, he found a bug in Uber, after which he was given a reward of $5500.[26]
  • In April 2023, he found a "security flaw" in LinkedIn that could have led to deletion of any posts.[27]

References

  1. ^ "Indian techie discovers Uber bug, bags Rs 4.6 lakh reward". The New Indian Express. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Not an IITian, This Bengaluru Techie Sold his Company for USD 100 Million, Inspiring Tale of Anand Prakash". Times Now. 2024-02-06. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  3. ^ "Hackers for good: How Anand Prakash rescued Facebook". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  4. ^ Laik, Rohan (11 March 2016). "The Bounty Hunter: This 22-year-old Flipkart employee is worth Rs 1.3 crore!". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  5. ^ Haranas, Mark. "SentinelOne Buys PingSafe To 'Redefine Cloud Security'". CRN. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  6. ^ Singh, Manish (8 January 2024). "SentinelOne acquires Peak XV-backed PingSafe for over $100 million". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  7. ^ "30 Under 30 Asia 2017: Enterprise Technology". Forbes. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  8. ^ Shaikh, Shadma (9 March 2016). "Bengaluru boy finds Facebook bug, gets $15,000 for it". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  9. ^ "US company buys Bengaluru cybersecurity startup PingSafe for $100million". Times of India. 11 January 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  10. ^ Doshi, Vidhi (1 April 2016). "Meet the bughunters: the hackers in India protecting your data". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  11. ^ Singh, Tanaya (20 February 2016). "This Engineer Earned Rs. 1.2 Crore from Finding Software Bugs in Facebook and Twitter". The Better India. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  12. ^ "Not an IITian, This Bengaluru Techie Sold his Company for USD 100 Million, Inspiring Tale of Anand Prakash". Times Now. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  13. ^ "Meet Anand Prakash — a white hat hacker who's earned bug bounties from Facebook, Twitter, and Uber". Free Code Camp. 25 February 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  14. ^ "Notable Alumni". Vellore Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  15. ^ "Meet Anand Prakash, one of India's best known 'white hat hackers'". Firstpost. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  16. ^ "INTERVIEW: This Indian Hacker Has Earned ₹2.2 Crore By Finding Bugs In Facebook, Twitter, And Other websites". HuffPost. 7 March 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  17. ^ "This is where we are in Dubai: A local's guide from millennials and Gen Z". Gulf News. 18 March 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  18. ^ McDowell, Steve. "SentinelOne Expands Unified Security Offerings With PingSafe Acquisition". Forbes. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  19. ^ "NYSE-listed SentinelOne acquires Bangalore-based startup PingSafe". Business Standard. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  20. ^ Waugh, Rob (8 March 2016). "Hacker could get into ANY Facebook account using simple password trick". Metro. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  21. ^ Brandom, Russell (8 March 2016). "Facebook paid $15,000 to close a bug that could unlock any user's account". The Verge. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  22. ^ "Bengaluru Techie Rewarded $15000 By Facebook For Finding A Bug". HuffPost. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  23. ^ Titcomb, James (8 March 2016). "Hacker reveals how he could take over any Facebook account and change its password". Telegraph. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  24. ^ Conger, Kate (4 March 2017). "Researcher finds bug that allowed free Uber rides". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  25. ^ "This hacker was rewarded ₹4 lakh by Tinder and Facebook". GQ India. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  26. ^ "Indian Researcher Gets Rs 4.6 Lakh Reward For Discovering Bug In Uber App". NDTV. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  27. ^ "Indian researcher spots security flaw in LinkedIn". The Hindu. 20 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2024.