Startup Star: CyberHoot

CyberHoot’s roots go back to 2014, when co-founder and CEO Craig Taylor was running a business with a business model that was too broad, and a name that was too vague. The founders realized that there was a specific gap in the market that they could better serve—cyber security training. 

In 2019, Taylor and his partners put this service at the center of their business model and rebranded as CyberHoot, based in Hampton. “Our rebranding really helped us focus, and to help people who came across us to understand what we’re doing,” Taylor says.

Cyber security training isn’t new, but what CyberHoot offers is a novel approach. The industry norm is for companies to hire an outside firm to conduct a security audit, which seeks to expose weaknesses by sending “phishing” emails. Employees who are tricked into opening them and clicking on links that could potentially open the door to malicious software are notified of their error and assigned extra training.

Taylor says there are two problems with this paradigm. The first is that employees begin to resent their own IT department and respond by forwarding any suspicious emails to someone else to evaluate. The second is that there’s no information about workers who didn’t click on the link. 

“The traditional attack-based model is not working,” Taylor says. CyberHoot’s system allows clients to automate the process, choosing how often trainings, which include videos and phishing assignments, are sent. CyberHoot’s phishing training guides employees on what to look out for. “What we’re doing is an educational model that is positive and empowering.”

As a small company, CyberHoot’s challenge has been getting its idea in front of decision-makers, so that they realize that there is an alternative. That means attending conferences for managers in charge of security, but CyberHoot’s resources have allowed them to attend only a handful of these conferences. However, when they can make their pitch, they get sales, Taylor says. The company has grown revenue 271% between 2020 and 2022. “We really are on the cusp of meteoric growth, we just need to get in front of people,” he says.