BUSINESS NEWS | digital & technology

PH's largest cybersecurity testing platform Secuna taps 25-year-old ethical hacker AJ Dumanhug as new CEO

By Icon Executive Asia
Published February 24, 2022

Secuna, the Philippines' largest cybersecurity testing platform, appointed its co-founder AJ Dumanhug to lead the company as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The role was previously held by Iannis Hanen, former CEO of Friendster, who has recently been appointed as VP for Global Sales of Secuna.

With the leadership of Dumanhug, Secuna will continue to pursue providing world-class, effective, scalable and cost-effective cybersecurity solutions that are not just within reach of multinational companies but of startups and SMEs.

Dumanhug will also be responsible for driving business growth and overseeing all operations across the Philippines and Asia Pacific markets.

Prior to the appointment of Dumanhug, the 25-year-old ethical hacker led Secuna as Co-founder and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) responsible for establishing and maintaining a corporate-wide information security management program to ensure that information assets from its clients are adequately protected through its platform. 

"I am delighted to be the CEO of Secuna at a critical time when companies need to embrace cybersecurity at the core level of their businesses," said Dumanhug. "As a co-founder, I've had the privilege of seeing firsthand how Secuna's innovation is responding to organizations' cybersecurity needs with its unique penetration test approach tapping the best ethical hackers across the globe. As demand to protect corporate and essential data escalates amid an evolving threat landscape, Secuna is the best penetration test platform to address these challenges."   

Dumanhug is a cybersecurity mentor for startups through Ideaspace Philippines, a Highly Technical Consultant for the National Privacy Commission, and a part-time Infosec Training Instructor at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde SPaCE. He also worked as a full-time consultant for almost three years for the University of the Philippines System under UP Information Technology Development Center (ITDC). He actively participates in bug bounties by legally hacking companies that offer cash rewards for finding and reporting valid bug reports. In 2019, he and other hackers were invited to a private live hacking tournament hosted by Facebook and Google in Singapore. He placed 7th after discovering and reporting multiple bugs in Facebook and providing the best-written report.

Meanwhile, Secuna is the first and only crowdsourced cybersecurity testing platform in the Philippines that has a community of hundreds of the world's most advanced and highly-vetted cybersecurity professionals and ethical hackers. The company offers Managed Service that helps in setting-up ISO-compliant Security Vulnerability Disclosure Program and Bug Bounty Program to receive and act on vulnerabilities discovered by cybersecurity professionals. Secuna also offers Compliance Service, a comprehensive, modern, and ISO-compliant Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) tailored-fit for apps/websites that have never been tested for cybersecurity flaws or businesses with requirements of Third-Party Assessment reports from government agencies.

Some of Secuna's notable clients are Dashlabs, QuadX, UBx, Kumu, Paymongo, and Palawan Express, among others.