HackerOne’s security platform leverages AI-driven and researcher-led continuous testing to target vulnerabilities found throughout an organization’s posture. Now, the platform and tools are available through the AWS marketplace.
Channel Insider spoke with HackerOne Vice President of Global Channels John Addeo to learn more about its AWS partnership and how the company plans to reimagine its channel approach in 2025.
Hyperscaler marketplaces: meeting customers where they are
The marketplace availability announcement comes as many in the channel weigh the potential benefits of marketplaces against perceived risks. For Addeo, marketplaces are not only beneficial, they are necessary for business as the industry enters 2025.
“We see marketplaces like AWS as meeting customers where they already are or where they want to be moving forward,” Addeo said. “We also know partners are increasingly hearing from their clients an increasing demand for marketplace availability, so we want to ensure we’re there for them to best service their clients.”
The new agreement is an extension of an existing partnership between the company and AWS. Addeo noted that AWS is actually a HackerOne customer and that HackerOne has been listed on the marketplace in a limited capacity for the past several years.
Now, though, HackerOne is “properly” categorized within the marketplace and will be more accessible to new and existing customers, including channel partners.
“We are now much more aligned to how our customers want to work with us and how our partners want to work with us, too,” Addeo said.
Pen testing, bug bounty programs, and more: The HackerOne suite grows
HackerOne has long been known for its work with the ethical hacker community and bug bounty program, but the company has now expanded its focus to offer more threat protection and vulnerability discovery solutions. In September, Channel Insider spoke with incoming CEO Kara Sprague about how the company wanted to approach security moving forward.
“I describe HackerOne really as the last line of defense for our customers,” Sprague said. “Especially in a market of hundreds, if not thousands, of security vendors, organizations have to prioritize their budgets and decide what to spend on. We serve as that last protective layer against threats.”
HackerOne offers to its users one unified platform that deploys capabilities including:
- Pentest as a Service, which allows security researchers access to an enterprise’s systems for the purpose of real-time testing and analysis of potential threats.
- Bug bounty, which leverages HackerOne’s global community of ethical hackers and researchers to find vulnerabilities before bad actors can.
- Time-bound and targeted testing that is automated through the platform.
- Code security audit, which again leverages the HackerOne community to specifically test source code and identify potential vulnerabilities.
- Vulnerability disclosure tracking to monitor and act on the threats identified within the platform.
To Addeo, the extensive solutions suite and all-in-one platform approach give channel partners a comprehensive ability to protect their clients and deliver value, if partners take the necessary steps to understand what their clients need.
“I really want to see our partners, and all partners really, get engaged with their customers to understand how they are looking to mitigate the risk from the last few lines of defense,” Addeo said, echoing Sprague’s description of HackerOne’s value add for organizations.
HackerOne approaches 2025 with channel goals across partner type
In addition to announcing Sprague’s appointment as CEO, the company also unveiled updates to its PartnerOne channel program in the fall of 2024.
In a press release announcing the expansion of the program, HackerOne outlined highlights of the new program, including:
- A subscription-style pricing structure that ensures all bug bounty rewards are delivered to the researchers engaging on the platform to conduct the testing.
- Opportunity management, lead source sharing, and online training resources.
- Branded testimonials and case studies to market the efficiency of the platform.
Addeo joined the company in May as its first formal channel leader, and he said the progress made last year will continue into 2025, with more additions on the way.
“I joined to really bring us up to the modern standard in partner engagement,” Addeo said. “For us, it’s really about bringing it all together, between resellers, solution providers, marketplaces, and more.”
Addeo said his plans for the upcoming year include strengthening the existing partnerships HackerOne has primarily with VARs and integrators while also introducing new ways of partnering with MSPs and other solution providers.
Many enterprise-focused vendors entered the channel via new partner programs in 2024. Read more about how Kindo is now supporting channel partners with AI-enabled DevSecOps.