# Jay Kaplan

> Jay Kaplan is the co-founder and CEO of Synack, a security testing company he started with fellow NSA veteran Mark Kuhr in 2013. A former teenage web-hosting entrepreneur and George Washington University graduate, he worked in Department of Defense and NSA cybersecurity roles before building a platform around vetted independent security researchers. He now advocates continuous testing that combines AI with expert human judgment. Synack completed its merger with NetSPI on October 5, 2026.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Synack
- **Organizations:** Synack, National Security Agency, U.S. Department of Defense
- **Education:** BS in Computer Science, focus in Information Assurance, George Washington University, MS in Engineering Management, George Washington University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Synack in 2013 and serves as its CEO., Selected for Forbes 2015 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology., Built Synack around a vetted global community now numbering more than 1,500 researchers.

## Career timeline

- **Age 13** — Started a website-development and shared-hosting business; later grew it to more than 1,000 customers and sold it during his freshman year at GW.
- **2008** — Earned a BS in Computer Science from George Washington University.
- **2009** — Completed graduate study and joined the NSA; prior government experience included Department of Defense incident-response and red-team roles.
- **2013** — Left the NSA and co-founded Synack with Mark Kuhr; participated in Techstars in Boston and moved to the Bay Area.
- **2015** — Selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology.
- **2017** — Synack announced a $21.25 million funding round led by Microsoft Ventures.
- **2021** — Explained Synack’s investment in cybersecurity journalism through the launch of README.
- **2025** — Advocated AI-assisted offensive security as Synack introduced Sara, its Autonomous Red Agent.
- **2026** — Synack and NetSPI announced a merger on September 2 and completed it on October 5.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Synack in 2013 and serves as its CEO.
- Selected for Forbes 2015 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology.
- Built Synack around a vetted global community now numbering more than 1,500 researchers.
- Received recognition for classified NSA work, as described in his public professional biography.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Synack states that its merger with NetSPI closed on October 5, 2026.
- **2026-09** — Published “Autonomy Was Never the Goal,” arguing for AI combined with expert judgment as Synack announced its NetSPI merger agreement.
- **2026-05** — In a TechFinitive interview, argued that coverage and continuous testing should guide security purchasing and priorities.
- **2025-11** — Featured in Synack’s Sara introduction video, published November 25, describing agentic AI working with human security expertise.

## Links

- Website: https://www.synack.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaykap/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/JayKaplan

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jay-kaplan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-22