About Us
About Searchlight
Stopping cybercriminals since 2017
Searchlight Cyber is a leader in preemptive cybersecurity, helping organizations worldwide to stop threats in their earliest stages, before attackers act.
complete visibility into
Owned Infrastructure
Attack Surface
Shadow IT
3rd Party Risk
So exposures get resolved
before an attack begins
Preemptive from day one
Leading the way
The industry now talks about preemptive security as though it's new
It was never new to us
Our approach to both attack surface management and threat intelligence has been preemptive from the start, working further left in the attack lifecycle than the tools built to detect and respond after the fact.
Today, Searchlight helps teams shift by:
Confirming what's exploitable
before attackers can use it
Observing who's targeting them
Resolve exploitable, actively targeted exposures before attackers can act
Preemptive Threat Exposure Management by Searchlight
Stop threats while they are still forming
Detect zero-days months before a CVE exists
Surface campaigns while they are still being prepared
Close exposures before the 2 AM scramble begins
Our story
Founded to stop criminals acting with impunity on the dark web
Shining a light on criminals
2017
Searchlight was founded in 2017 in Portsmouth by Dr Gareth Owenson and Ben Jones, building on years of academic research into attacker behavior on the dark web and work supporting criminal investigations. Shortly after launch, we secured our first customer: a major law enforcement agency.
Held to the standard of evidence
Building for criminal investigators means the intelligence has to stand up in court. Most vendors build for the enterprise first and never meet that bar. Searchlight has, from day one.
Attacker intelligence, made actionable
Over the years that followed, Searchlight supported some of the largest investigations of its kind and built one of the most comprehensive datasets in the field. That same intelligence now enables enterprises to continuously monitor the clear, deep, and dark web for threats against their organization, helping them stop cybercriminals in their tracks.
Searchlight acquires Assetnote
2025
The acquisition of Assetnote, the attack surface management pioneer that coined the term ASM, brings validation-by-exploitation into the platform. Searchlight now sees both sides: what’s exploitable on your surface, and who’s targeting it. For customers, that is the full scope of PTEM in one place.
Preemptive Threat Exposure Management
2026
Searchlight now sees both sides: what’s exploitable on your surface, and who’s targeting it. The full scope of preemptive cybersecurity in one place.
Built Across Borders
A global team with a shared mission
Portsmouth, UK
United States
Australia
Meet the team
Searchlight Cyber is built by a mission driven team
Michael Gianarakis
CEO at Searchlight Cyber
Michael Gianarakis is CEO of Searchlight Cyber, a leader in premptive cybersecurity. With over a decade in the security industry, Michael has built and led offensive security teams across Asia Pacific and Japan. In 2018 he co-founded Assetnote, a pioneering attack surface management platform acquired by Searchlight Cyber in 2025 – bringing best-in-class ASM capability into the PTEM platform. Michael is a respected security researcher and has presented at DEF CON, Black Hat Asia, BSides Las Vegas, Hack in the Box, AusCERT, Thotcon, 44Con, and OWASP.
Dr. Gareth Owenson
CTO and Co-Founder at Searchlight Cyber
Dr. Gareth Owenson is the CTO and Co-Founder of the company Searchlight Cyber, a leader in preemptive cybersecurity. Gareth completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2007 and is a world leader in Tor dark web research. He advises governments, military, and law enforcement on dark web technologies and guides the development of a suite of technologies that have put Searchlight Cyber in the forefront of criminal investigative and intelligence efforts. Gareth co-founded Searchlight Cyber in 2017 to help governments, law enforcement – and today that same attacker intelligence is used by enterprises worldwide to see what attackers are planning and take preemptive action.
Shubham Shah
Chief Security Research Officer at Searchlight Cyber
Shubham Shah is Chief Security Research Officer, having joined Searchlight Cyber following the acquisition of Assetnote, where he was Co-Founder and CTO. Shubham leads the global security research team whose findings feed directly into Searchlight Exposure – surfacing zero-day vulnerabilities in the tools organisations rely on, often months ahead of public disclosure. He remains a prolific bug bounty hunter ranked in the top 50 hackers on HackerOne, and has presented at various industry events including QCon London, Kiwicon, AusCert, BSides Canberra, and CrikeyCon.
Paul Ciesielski
Chief Revenue Officer at Searchlight Cyber
Paul Ciesielski is the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Searchlight Cyber, and is responsible for the company's global go-to-market strategy and overseeing sales and channel partnerships to drive international revenue growth. Ciesielski brings more than 20 years of experience in building and leading high-performance sales organizations within the cybersecurity and technology sectors.
Charlotte Rhodes
Global VP Marketing at Searchlight Cyber
Charlotte Rhodes is Global VP of Marketing at Searchlight Cyber, where she leads the company's marketing strategy across brand, content, demand generation, and communications. She has been instrumental in building Searchlight's profile as the category leader in Preemptive Threat Exposure Management (PTEM).
Timothy Hunt
VP of Customer Success at Searchlight Cyber
Timothy Hunt is the Vice President of Customer Success at Searchlight Cyber, where he leads the customer success function across the business. With over a decade in the information security industry, Tim has built and led global teams, which help organizations of all sizes understand their risk, strengthen their security programs, and get measurable value from their security investments.
Jo Compton
Finance Director at Searchlight Cyber
Jo Compton is the Finance Director at Searchlight Cyber, responsible for the financial strategy, reporting, and forecasting across the business globally. Compton is a CIMA-qualified Chartered Accountant with close to two decades of experience leading finance teams within private equity-backed SaaS and technology businesses.
Ben Jones
Strategic Advisor and Co-Founder at Searchlight Cyber
Ben Jones is the Co-Founder and former CEO of Searchlight Cyber. Ben started his career in defense and aerospace as an engineer designing unmanned aircraft. He transitioned into cybersecurity after recognizing the evolution of warfare towards virtual battlefields and the rapid growth of cyber threats to nations, organizations, and individuals. Searchlight launched in 2017 to help governments and law enforcement protect society from criminal threats across the dark, deep, and clear web. The company has since been involved in some of the world's largest dark web investigations and has now brought that same attacker intelligence and exposure management to enterprise security teams. As a strategic advisor, Ben supports the global cybersecurity firm in driving its commercial growth internationally and the development of its preemptive threat exposure management platform – equipping security teams with the visibility to neutralize threats before they become attacks.
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Eterna Growth Partners
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