Ghent-based cybersecurity company OutKept has secured €500,000 in seed round funding led by Presto Ventures and Business Angels (BAN Flanders).
OutKept helps organizations prevent phishing through an open community of ethical phishers.
Eduard Kucera, partner at Presto Ventures, said, “OutKept’s strategy of crowdsourcing potential phishing emails and educating its customers’ employees is particularly relevant in the face of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered social engineering attacks. It perfectly aligns with today’s corporate security needs.”
“This proactive and educational approach plays a critical role in strengthening human awareness, which is the weakest link in corporate cybersecurity today.”
Jean-Marie Vliegen, angel investor at BAN Flanders, adds: “Phishing simulations are a key element in addressing human risk factors in a comprehensive cyber risk mitigation program.”
“OutKept’s simulation approach through a community of ethical phishers perfectly mimics real-world phishing threats and is a cost-effective awareness and education solution. We can introduce it.”
Simulate realistic phishing attacks with the help of ethical phishers
Founded in 2020 by Simon Bauwens and Dieter Tine, OutKept is a phishing simulation platform that addresses human cyber risk for organizations.
The company’s approach includes automated, high-quality phishing simulations developed by an open community of ethical phishers. These ethical contributors will receive a bounty similar to a bug bounty program if they successfully create a phishing email.
“We started OutKept with the belief that cybersecurity is a real cat-and-mouse game, so you should have a lot of cats on your side,” said co-founder Bauwens.
“Community-based models and bounties have proven to be highly effective in cybersecurity, and with OutKept we bring this logic to phishing prevention.”
“Our phishing simulations are powered by a community of ethical phishers, some of whom are already leveraging the latest AI technology just like real phishers,” adds Bauwens. .
A “Darwinistic” algorithm powers the platform by distributing successful phishing emails more prominently to relevant target groups, while phasing out simulations with a lower success rate. This improves the overall quality of the simulation and reduces interactions with phishing emails over time.
OutKept’s system operates without ongoing IT management or content creation, providing a sustainable solution for staying vigilant against phishing threats. According to OutKept, clients typically see a 50% reduction in phishing email interactions within two to three months.
The platform provides real-time monitoring through a live dashboard, allowing organizations to see vulnerability reductions after one month. OutKept operates around the world, collaborating with local ethical phishers in over 20 countries to conduct phishing simulations.
OutKept faces competition from established players such as KnowBe4, Sophos and Proofpoint, all prominent US companies offering similar services.
capital utilization
The fund will support the platform’s international expansion, with a focus on bringing innovative approaches to high-quality phishing simulation to new markets.
Co-founder Tinel said, “It’s worth noting that there are various platforms to combat hacking through crowdsourcing communities, but there are virtually no solutions that prevent phishing in a similar way.” states.
“When we started OutKept, we faced the technical challenge of converting phishing content that could literally come from anyone into secure content for training. However, the community and investor support, and the amazing Thanks to technology, we have successfully begun our journey to bring bug bounty hunting to the world of social engineering.”
Co-founder Bauwens added, “We are very pleased to have raised funding that will enable us to reach many new organizations and ethical phishers around the world.”