The goal of Falanx is to help companies defend themselves against cyberattacks

Ethical hacker Rob Shapland has to be able to think like the villain without turning into one himself, writes Heather Martin

Hacking can be a force for good (Getty)

We all thank our lucky stars that Sherlock Holmes resisted the call of the dark side, and that crime writers settle for acting out their grim fantasies on the page. I felt much the same about Rob Shapland when I met him for coffee at The Hoxton hotel in London. Not least because it was evident that should he so choose, there was nothing about me that he could not find out.

But I wasn’t too worried. Not only is Shapland bound by the beauty of contracts, he struck me as an ethical kind of guy. All part of his persona, of course, especially when it comes to “pen attacks”.

Shapland is head of innovation and ethical hacker at Falanx Cyber, which specialises in protecting organisations against hackers of the unethical variety. He has to be able to think like the villain without turning into one himself. “Falanx’s goal is to help companies, mostly SMEs, defend themselves. We have solutions that we know work, because we do the attacking as well.”