Introduction
5
Elated at the idea of someone actually paying for my book (something I created and was
pouring a tonne of effort into!), I logged on to LeanPub to see what I could find out about
the mystery buyer. Turns out nothing. But then my phone vibrated, I received a tweet
from Michiel Prins saying he liked the book and asked to be kept in the loop.
Who the hell is Michiel Prins? I checked his Twitter profile and turns out, he’s one
of the Co-Founders of HackerOne.
Shit. Part of me thought HackerOne wouldn’t be
impressed with my reliance on their site for content. I tried to stay positive, Michiel
seemed supportive and did ask to be kept in the loop, so probably harmless.
Not long after my first sale, I received a second sale and figured I was on to something.
Coincidentally, around the same time, I got a notification from Quora about a question
I’d probably be interested in, How do I become a successful Bug bounty hunter?
Given my experience starting out, knowing what it was like to be in the same shoes
and with the selfish goal of wanting to promote my book, I figured I’d write an answer.
About half way through, it dawned on me that the only other answer was written by
Jobert Abma, one of the other Co-Founders of HackerOne. A pretty authoritative voice
on hacking.
Shit.
I contemplated abandoning my answer but then elected to rewrite it to build on his input
since I couldn’t compete with his advice. I hit submit and thought nothing of it. But then
I received an interesting email:
Hi Peter, I saw your Quora answer and then saw that you are writing a book
about White Hat hacking. Would love to know more.
Kind regards,
Marten CEO, HackerOne
