Rahul Sasi and CloudSEK: From Ethical Hacking to Building an AI-Powered Cybersecurity Company

Category: Technology & SaaS
Estimated reading time: 9–11 minutes

The Founder Who Turned Cybersecurity Research into a Business

As businesses move more of their operations online, their risks extend far beyond computer viruses. Criminals can impersonate brands, exploit exposed systems, steal login credentials, sell stolen information and use third-party vendors as entry points into corporate networks.

For companies, the challenge is not simply responding when an attack happens. It is identifying warning signs early enough to prevent damage.

Rahul Sasi, an Indian cybersecurity researcher and entrepreneur, recognised an opportunity in this problem. In 2015, he founded CloudSEK to help organisations identify and manage digital threats before they escalate.

What began as a research-driven cybersecurity venture developed into an AI-powered cyber intelligence business serving organisations across multiple industries and countries.

His journey offers a useful lesson for aspiring entrepreneurs: specialised knowledge can become the foundation of a business when it addresses a problem that customers genuinely need to solve.

1. A Different Route into Technology

Rahul Sasi did not follow the conventional route into the technology industry.

His interest in cybersecurity began with hands-on experimentation, programming and security research. In 2006, he became involved with Garage4Hackers, an online community where security researchers shared knowledge and explored vulnerabilities in digital systems.

Rather than treating hacking purely as an attempt to break into systems, ethical hackers use their technical skills to discover weaknesses so they can be understood and addressed.

This work requires curiosity, patience and the ability to think from an attacker's perspective. Researchers must understand how software behaves, where security controls can fail and how seemingly minor weaknesses might be exploited.

Sasi developed his expertise through practical research, technical contributions and participation in international cybersecurity communities. His work eventually brought him recognition among security professionals and opportunities to work with established technology companies.

His early career demonstrates an important point about technology entrepreneurship: expertise can be built through sustained practical work, not solely through formal qualifications.

2. Learning from the Cybersecurity Industry

Before starting CloudSEK, Sasi worked with iSIGHT Partners, a cybersecurity intelligence company, and later with Citrix.

These experiences exposed him to the practical challenges of protecting digital infrastructure and understanding threats that could affect businesses.

Cybersecurity is a broad field. Traditional security products often focus on protecting an organisation's internal systems, detecting suspicious activity or preventing unauthorised access.

However, a company's exposure does not end at its own network boundary.

Its employees may have accounts on external services. Its brand can be impersonated online. Sensitive credentials may appear in criminal forums. Internet-facing systems can contain vulnerabilities, and third-party suppliers can introduce additional risks.

Security teams need to understand these external warning signs alongside the security of their own infrastructure.

This wider view of digital risk became central to the business idea behind CloudSEK.

3. Identifying the Problem That Led to CloudSEK

In 2015, Sasi recognised a gap in the cybersecurity market: organisations needed a more comprehensive way to monitor threats emerging outside their internal networks.

The internet had become an essential part of business operations, but it also created an expanding environment for cybercriminal activity. Threats could originate from public websites, underground forums, exposed infrastructure and other digital sources.

Finding relevant information was only part of the challenge. Security teams also needed to determine which signals were credible, how serious the risks were and what action should be taken.

A stream of unfiltered alerts could create as many problems as it solved. Businesses needed intelligence that was relevant, contextual and actionable.

Sasi founded CloudSEK in September 2015 with the goal of developing technology that could help organisations identify, analyse and respond to external cyber threats.

The underlying idea was straightforward: use automation, machine learning and eventually increasingly sophisticated AI capabilities to help security teams understand risks beyond their immediate digital environment.

Instead of treating every threat as an isolated incident, the company aimed to provide a broader picture of an organisation's exposure.

4. Building the First Product: XVigil

CloudSEK's early product was called XVigil.

The platform was designed to gather information about external digital threats and turn it into intelligence that organisations could use.

Its initial version combined manual research with machine-learning capabilities. Over time, the system evolved towards greater automation, allowing it to collect and analyse information more efficiently.

This evolution was important because cyber threats are not static. New websites, exposed services, leaked credentials and attack techniques can appear continuously.

A manual approach may help investigate an individual incident, but it becomes difficult to maintain comprehensive coverage across a large and constantly changing digital environment.

Automation can help increase the volume of information processed, while analytical models and human expertise help distinguish meaningful risks from irrelevant signals.

CloudSEK's product-development journey therefore involved more than building a tool that could find suspicious information. The wider challenge was to turn that information into something security teams could use to make decisions.

That distinction would become central to the company's business proposition.

5. Winning the First Customers

Developing a cybersecurity product is only one part of building a technology company. The next challenge is convincing customers to trust it.

Security products operate in a particularly demanding environment. Customers need confidence that a tool can provide useful information, that its findings are credible and that the provider understands the consequences of a missed threat.

According to CloudSEK's official company history, the first version of XVigil was introduced in 2017. The team demonstrated the product to industry contacts, and within months the company secured its first order from a US-based technology company.

The company also identifies early customers, including Eastern and BlueJeans, in its historical account.

These initial relationships helped the team move beyond product development and demonstrate that the problem it was addressing had commercial value.

Early customers also offer an opportunity to learn. Their feedback can reveal which features matter most, how security teams actually work and where a product needs to improve before it can serve a larger market.

For an emerging SaaS company, this customer feedback loop is often more valuable than building a long list of features without evidence that buyers need them.

6. Turning Cyber Intelligence into a Business

CloudSEK's opportunity was not limited to detecting individual cyber incidents. Its broader proposition was to help organisations understand their digital risk continuously.

That creates several related business needs.

A company may want to know whether criminals are impersonating its brand. It may need to identify exposed assets, discover compromised credentials or assess risks associated with third-party organisations.

Different industries face different consequences from these threats. A financial institution may be concerned about fraud and customer information, while a technology company may focus on exposed infrastructure, intellectual property and supply-chain vulnerabilities.

CloudSEK developed its offering around several areas of digital risk intelligence, including external attack-surface monitoring, brand protection, cyber threat intelligence and supply-chain intelligence.

The business value lies in helping organisations move from scattered information to a more coherent understanding of their exposure.

For customers, that can support better prioritisation: identifying which risks require immediate investigation, which weaknesses need attention and where security resources should be concentrated.

For CloudSEK, solving these recurring problems creates the basis for a business-to-business technology model in which organisations pay for specialised software and intelligence services.

7. Why Artificial Intelligence Matters

As the digital environment grows, cybersecurity teams face a growing volume of information.

A single organisation may have websites, cloud services, applications, suppliers, employee accounts and other assets spread across multiple systems. Meanwhile, attackers can operate across public websites, underground communities and interconnected digital infrastructure.

Monitoring every relevant source manually is difficult to scale.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning can help process large quantities of data, identify patterns and connect signals that might otherwise be missed. Automation can also help security teams receive relevant information more quickly.

However, AI does not automatically make every security finding accurate. Organisations still need reliable data, context, validation and appropriate human judgement.

CloudSEK's approach has increasingly focused on combining AI-driven analysis with contextual cyber intelligence, with the aim of helping customers understand potential threats and decide what to do next.

The company has continued to expand its platform beyond its early XVigil product. Its newer offerings include Nexus, an AI-powered cybersecurity command centre designed to bring together threat intelligence and attack-surface insights.

This progression reflects a broader trend in enterprise software: moving from individual tools towards platforms that connect information across multiple workflows.

8. Growing Beyond the Early Startup Stage

CloudSEK's growth required more than technical innovation.

The company needed to develop a team capable of building security products, analysing threats, supporting customers and selling to organisations with demanding requirements.

It also needed to build credibility in a market where trust is essential.

Cybersecurity buyers often evaluate vendors carefully because a product may influence decisions about sensitive systems and business-critical risks. Establishing relationships with customers and investors is therefore an important part of scaling.

CloudSEK expanded its operations internationally, including across India, Southeast Asia and the Americas, according to its company history.

Its investor base has included early supporters such as the Meeran Foundation, StartupXseed and Exfinity Ventures, followed by other investors and strategic backers.

In 2021, the company raised a reported $7 million Series A round led by MassMutual Ventures. It later announced $19 million across its Series A2 and Series B1 funding rounds in May 2025.

In 2026, CloudSEK announced a further $10 million Series B2 round involving Connecticut Innovations, the strategic venture capital arm of the US state of Connecticut.

That investment was a notable milestone in the company's international development and demonstrated continued investor interest in its cybersecurity technology.

Funding can help a technology business recruit specialists, improve its products, expand sales operations and enter new markets. But investment also increases expectations: a company must turn capital into sustainable growth, useful products and long-term customer value.

CloudSEK's funding journey illustrates how a specialised technical idea can attract broader commercial support when it develops into a business serving important enterprise needs.

9. Building for an International Market

Cybersecurity is not a problem limited to one country.

Businesses in different markets rely on cloud services, digital payments, online communications and connected suppliers. Cybercriminals can operate across borders, and digital threats can affect organisations regardless of where their headquarters are located.

This creates an opportunity for cybersecurity companies that can develop products for international customers.

CloudSEK was founded by an Indian cybersecurity researcher and developed significant operations in Bengaluru. Its current official company information identifies Singapore as its headquarters, with offices in India and other international markets.

This distinction matters: the company has Indian roots and a substantial Bengaluru presence, but it should not be described as headquartered in Bengaluru today.

International growth also brings challenges. A company must understand different customer requirements, comply with relevant regulations, build local relationships and provide reliable support across markets.

For a specialised software company, global expansion depends not only on the quality of its technology but also on its ability to build trust with customers in different business environments.

CloudSEK's journey shows how a company can build from an Indian technology base while developing an international presence.

10. Expanding the Mission Beyond Traditional Cybersecurity

CloudSEK has continued to explore how AI can help identify emerging forms of digital risk.

In 2024, the company introduced an AI-powered DeepFake Video Analyzer intended to help people detect deepfake videos and address misinformation-related risks. It also launched Nexus, bringing together multiple cybersecurity insights in an AI-powered command-centre approach.

These developments point towards a broader challenge for organisations: the definition of digital risk continues to change.

Businesses must now consider not only conventional network vulnerabilities but also brand impersonation, manipulated media, third-party exposure and risks associated with increasingly complex digital systems.

For cybersecurity businesses, this creates both opportunity and responsibility. New tools must be useful, explainable enough for customers to act on, and designed to minimise false alarms or misleading conclusions.

The ability to adapt products as threats evolve is likely to remain a critical factor in the company's long-term relevance.

11. What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Rahul Sasi

Rahul Sasi's journey offers several lessons for people building technology businesses.

Start with a specific, important problem

CloudSEK emerged from a recognised gap in external cyber threat monitoring. The initial focus was not to build a general-purpose technology company, but to solve a particular problem for organisations.

A focused starting point can help founders develop a clearer product and identify their first customers.

Turn expertise into something customers can use

Technical knowledge has commercial value when it becomes a product that solves a real problem. CloudSEK's evolution from research and an early product prototype towards automated intelligence illustrates the work involved in making specialised expertise useful at scale.

Listen to early customers

The first customers provide more than revenue. They can help a company understand how its product performs in real environments, which problems are most urgent and which improvements will make the greatest difference.

Build for recurring needs

Cyber threats continue to change, so organisations need ongoing visibility rather than a one-time assessment. Products that address recurring business needs can provide the foundation for a sustainable software business.

Treat trust as part of the product

In cybersecurity, customers are buying more than software. They are relying on the provider's judgement, reliability and ability to handle sensitive information responsibly. Credibility and customer relationships are therefore central to growth.

Think internationally, but build the foundations first

CloudSEK's development shows the potential for a specialised technology business to serve customers across markets. International expansion, however, requires strong products, capable teams and the ability to meet the needs of customers in different regions.

The Bigger Picture

CloudSEK's story is about turning a specialised technical skill into a business that addresses an increasingly important commercial problem.

Rahul Sasi's cybersecurity research helped him recognise the limitations of relying only on internal security tools. That insight became the starting point for a company focused on monitoring external threats and translating digital signals into actionable intelligence.

Over time, CloudSEK expanded its products, customer relationships, investor support and international operations. Its journey also reflects the changing nature of cybersecurity, as organisations contend with more connected systems and new forms of digital risk.

The broader lesson is that successful technology entrepreneurship does not always begin with an entirely new invention. Sometimes it starts by identifying an important gap in an existing industry and building a better way to address it.

For aspiring founders, that is a practical reminder: understand the problem deeply, create a solution customers can use, learn from the market and keep improving as the world changes.