I am a hacker who uses his skills in a benevolent way

Where it all began

I am terrible at playing computer games. At the age of 10, I was attracted by a completely different side of computers than most of my friends. I was pulled into the world of buffer overflows and exploit development. As soon as I finished my homework, I would read Phrack, Hack-Tic, 2600 and other hacker magazines. A hacker mind was born.

Where it went to from there

At age 15 I turned my hobby into profession, offering ethical hacking services to various companies. I continued part-time freelancing for a while and in 2008, after finishing my master’s degree in Information Security Technology, I decided to join KPMG. In this role, I travelled around the globe and lead a great red team at KPMG Netherlands.

In 2016 there was the unique opportunity to start a new adventure alongside three experts with very rare skills. Outflank was founded. The only company in The Netherlands with a focus on my passion: red teaming and attack simulation.

My specialisms

I am a hacker who uses his skills in a benevolent way, with more than 10 years of experience in offensive techniques such as ethical hacking, red teaming and attack simulations in all sorts of industries, ranging from banking to military and oil & gas. My passion is to adopt the tradecraft of the bad guys (such as phishing, malware and lateral movement) and to closely mimic these techniques in attack simulations for our clients.

My coolest project ever

Hacking radar and weapon systems almost felt like playing with extreme toys for boys. At the same time, realizing that these systems could cause huge harm in the wrong hands, I was aware that my work really matters. It is a blessing when your hobby is your work.