Ex-GitHub Engineers Raise $20M to Enhance Pen-Testing with AI-Powered XBOW

Ex-GitHub Engineers Raise $20M to Enhance Pen-Testing with AI-Powered XBOW

July 16, 2024 at 10:27AM

Former GitHub engineers secured $20 million from Sequoia Capital for startup XBOW, aiming to use AI to boost pentesters, bug hunters, and security researchers’ efficiency. Founded by Oege de Moor and ex-GitHub engineers, the team includes former Lyft CISO Nico Waisman. XBOW’s AI autonomously passed 75% of web security benchmarks and tackled 85% of in-house benchmarks.

Based on the meeting notes, the key takeaways are:
1. A team of former GitHub software engineers, led by Oege de Moor, has secured $20 million in venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital to build a new company called XBOW. The company aims to use AI to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of pentesters, bug hunters, and security researchers.
2. The leadership team includes former Lyft CISO Nico Waisman, known for his expertise in offensive security and exploit mitigations.
3. XBOW’s AI product has autonomously passed 75% of web security benchmarks, accurately finding and exploiting vulnerabilities. It was also evaluated against 104 novel benchmarks created in-house, successfully tackling 85% of these.
4. XBOW’s AI technology is showcased in several case studies and is expected to provide a significant boost for bug hunters and security researchers.
5. Oege de Moor was involved in the creation of GitHub Copilot and was previously part of Semmle, now GitHub Advanced Security.
6. Related developments include GitHub becoming CVE Numbering Authority, the acquisition of Semmle, and the general availability of Code Scanning feature by GitHub.

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