A notable development in the cybersecurity sector has emerged as a Dutch startup announced the successful raising of $40 million. This funding aims to propel the development of a comprehensive offensive cybersecurity platform designed to transition from merely identifying vulnerabilities to implementing proactive, automated fixes.

The Series B funding round, which saw participation from Forgepoint and SmartFin, is set to enable horizontal expansion of the platform. This expansion will encompass a shift from external security scanning to a more comprehensive focus on internal network security and enhancing capabilities for qualitative AI-driven threat testing. Co-founder and CEO Rogier Fischer articulated that the funds will be aimed at addressing agentic risks prevalent in AI systems while enhancing the core platform’s remediation capabilities through the construction of agents that proactively implement fixes.

In an interview, Fischer elaborated on the intricacies of financial strategy, stating, “You don’t want to over-raise because you might end up with a lot of cash in the bank that you’re not going to use and dilute a lot more.” He also expressed optimism, suggesting that the company foresees profitability in the coming year. As such, he views this funding as more of a buffer that would enable the company to accelerate its growth and make strategic investments.

Established in 2021, Hadrian has rapidly expanded to 105 employees and has raised approximately $55 million to date, including an initial seed round of $11.73 million led by HV Capital in June 2022. Fischer’s background as a co-founder and chief technology officer at LiteBit provides a solid foundation for his leadership role at Hadrian, leveraging nearly eight years of experience within the technology sector.

Addressing Qualitative Threats

Fischer asserts that the cybersecurity landscape is witnessing a shift away from purely technical vulnerabilities that can be mitigated through AI-enhanced secure coding practices. Instead, a greater emphasis is being placed on qualitative threats, particularly those that involve deceiving AI agents. The emergence of agentic threats, for instance, raises concerns about manipulating automated workflows, such as customer service systems, into divulging sensitive information erroneously.

To illustrate this concern, Fischer recounted a scenario involving a customer who utilized agentic workflows for customer support. The company was able to influence the agent, resulting in the inadvertent sharing of sensitive information from other customers. Testing for these qualitative vulnerabilities diverges from traditional methods in that it demands more dynamic engagement with the endpoints, necessitating the innovative use of Hadrian’s AI agents to identify these complexities.

Fischer elaborated that the technological landscape is evolving, indicating that many new threats are characterized by qualitative manipulations. “It’s really about deceiving our agents, deceiving technology,” he remarked, highlighting the necessity for organizations to adapt to this changing attack surface.

At present, Hadrian’s strengths lie in facilitating initial access through external attacks. However, Fischer emphasized the company’s strategic intent to extend its capabilities into internal networks, thus offering organizations an end-to-end perspective on potential attack pathways to their most critical assets, such as vital databases. By depicting not only the methods through which an attacker might infiltrate a system, but also illustrating how they could navigate internally to access high-value areas, Hadrian aims to profoundly enhance an organization’s cybersecurity posture.

Fischer articulated this vision further, stating, “We can show you not just, ‘Hey, we can get into any system X, Y, Z,’ but rather, ‘Hey, we can get into system X, and then we can propagate inside your network to that database that has all your customers in there.'” This proactive approach could revolutionize how organizations defend their assets against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.

Implementing Proactive Fixes

The ambitious expansion plan necessitates intricate complexities, requiring not only customer permissions but also the installation of agents or routers within the network. Unlike their previous external scanning model, this move positions Hadrian to create a unified platform serving all offensive cybersecurity needs under a single interface, thereby enhancing operational efficiency for security engineers.

Fischer envisions building an offensive security platform where a security engineer can accomplish everything related to cybersecurity from a single portal. He underscored that a significant improvement needed in the current offering is transitioning from merely identifying and reporting risks to actively implementing solutions.

Reflecting on the future trajectory, Fischer stated that a major focus for Hadrian in the next one to two years will be the construction of advanced agents capable of executing immediate remediation actions, such as modifying firewall configurations or rectifying misconfigurations that could otherwise facilitate an intrusion. Such capabilities are invaluable when addressing vulnerabilities in third-party software, as customers often lack the ability to alter source codes.

“Instead of just telling you something—’Hey, you need to do this’—I want to say, ‘Hey, we’ve done this to prevent X from happening,'” Fischer emphasized, detailing the future direction he envisions for Hadrian’s platform. A large investment from their Series B funding will be allocated to developing these automated remediation capabilities, which Fischer noted require considerable amounts of data for successful implementation at scale. Currently, Hadrian’s platform executes around 150 million attack simulations on a daily basis, underscoring the company’s commitment to establishing a robust, proactive cybersecurity framework for its clients.