• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
TechSnapchat

What Snapchat Was Doing at Black Hat

Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
Down Arrow Button Icon
Robert Hackett
By
Robert Hackett
Robert Hackett
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 9, 2016, 5:37 PM ET
Courtesy of Snapchat
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Tucked away among the booths in a far corner on the showroom floor at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference this year, one company’s signage—a ghostly silhouette on a vertically-oriented, lemon-hued banner—stood out like the sore thumb of an avid selfie-snapper: Snapchat.

Surprised, I asked my companion—Tomer Weingarten, CEO and cofounder of SentinelOne, a three-year-old cybersecurity startup that aims to supplant antivirus incumbents like Symantec (SYMC) and Intel (INTC) Security (née McAfee)—whether he wouldn’t mind pausing our interview while I moseyed over to investigate.

We ambled by people costumed as hokey superheroes at the Gemalto (GTOFF) booth, edged past a few neon green Nike-donning (NKE) women from Cylance (a fierce competitor to SentinelOne), and bellied up to the table. I nudged a bright-yellow, inflatable fitness ball bearing the Snapchat logo out of the way.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

“What’s Snapchat doing at Black Hat—hiring?” I inquired over a spread of cupcakes. The sugar wafers atop displayed “Ghostface Chillah,” the company’s mascot, blacked out.

Black Hat cupcakes, courtesy of Snapchat. Magically delicious. #BHUSA pic.twitter.com/kxwCoK2KnW

— Mask up ☮️ (@kzeidenstein) August 6, 2015

“Yes we are!” the attendant said, leaping from his seat. Then he glanced down at my press badge.

“Nice try,” he corrected himself, assuming a jig-is-up-type grin. “Thanks for wearing your badge the right way.” He handed me a sheet formatted to the proportions of a smartphone screen that had more information, and told me to contact the communications team if I had any other questions.

The interaction was awkward; Weingarten agreed.

Here’s a picture of the handout I received. It also featured the undead Chillah, this time sporting wayfarers and a black fedora. Très hacker chic.

Job descriptions replete with infosec jargon on a hard-to-read black sheet courtesy of Snapchat
Courtesy of Snapchat

Initially, I was surprised to see the youthful consumer brand nestled among its more established peers in the exhibition area’s “career zone.” The booth sat beside Cisco (CSCO), Raytheon’s (RTN) Forcepoint, and PayPal (PYPL). Snapchat struck me as being out of place.

Snapchat’s appearance is not entirely shocking though. The company—last privately valued at $18 billion—has long billed itself as a security-conscious, privacy-minded alternative to other social networks. That’s despite the firm having suffered plenty of security snafus over the course of its short lifespan: a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission regarding not-exactly-ephemeral messages in 2014, a bug that exposed 4.6 million people’s usernames and phone numbers that same year, a third-party leak that released more than 90,000 private photos and videos online a few months later, and its recent victimization at the hands of W-2 tax form phishing scammers. Oh, and then there’s this one: A seeming operational security failure on the part of CEO Evan Spiegel, who wore some nifty prototype hardware outside the office. (Nice shades!)

With that said, the supersonically growing firm has evolved its security mindset over the years. The company rewrote its privacy policy, began issuing transparency reports, launched a bug bounty program, implemented anti-spam measures, and locked down its application programming interfaces so that third party app abusers could no longer spring leaks. Snapchat has done an admirable job hardening up. You can read about the company’s efforts in this story published last year on Backchannel, a tech blog recently acquired by Wired publisher Condé Nast.

For more on Snapchat, watch:

Still there’s room for improvement. Last I checked the messaging service did not employ end-to-end encryption, a feature that technically prevents outsiders—and the company itself—from snooping on one’s correspondence. This feature, which many security pros regard as a must-have, has gotten Facebook’s (FB) WhatsApp into trouble with law enforcement in Brazil lately. (Rumor has it Snapchat has toyed with the idea of deploying this kind of encryption, but no word yet on when or whether it’ll see daylight.) Snapchat has said, however, that it encrypts messages “at rest” on its servers and that it automatically deletes them after they’ve been opened or have expired. In other words, the company has the ability to access messages—as do cops with search warrants, or highly determined hackers—for a window of time that lasts anywhere from the moment of delivery up to as long as a month later. (More info on the company’s support page.)

Snapchat’s much bigger rival Facebook, for what it’s worth, always has feet on the ground at Black Hat and its sister hacking conference Defcon. Alex Stamos, the company’s security chief, is on Black Hat’s review board. Facebook sponsors r00tz asylum, a hacking event for children that runs concurrent with Defcon. The company has long touted its bug bounty program, hired hackers, and released open source software for the information security industry, such as osquery, an infrastructure checkup tool, and ThreatExchange, a social network for people to swap electronic attack and defense intel. It’s interesting to consider if—and how—Snapchat may attempt to build its name among the community of code crackers, too.

I’m told Snapchat employees visited Black Hat last year, albeit with less fanfare and baked goods SWAG. The company was a sponsor of an app security conference in Santa Monica, Calif. earlier this year, where Jad Boutros, an ex-Googler who serves as Snapchat’s director of information security, gave a talk that touched on how the company has armored up since the infamous “Snappening” breach of 2014. At this year’s Black Hat, Snapchat also apparently hosted a happy hour and a hacking contest, though I didn’t attend them. As far as I can tell, the company appears to be peeking outside its shell a bit more this year, popping its head into the information security world, much like Chillah in the top-right corner of the “jobs” sheet pictured above. Squint, and you’ll see.

Anyway, if you’re looking for an information security job, Snapchat’s got some. Perhaps you can at least help the company better protect its intellectual property. Looking at you, Instagram!

About the Author
Robert Hackett
By Robert Hackett
Instagram iconLinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family’s $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
Big Techphilanthropy
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family’s $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
By Sydney LakeJuly 23, 2026
4 hours ago
Thijn Lamers is Co-Founder and President, Noah.
Commentarystart-ups
Adyen co-founder: Europe does not need more ambition. It needs to stop hiding it
By Thijn LamersJuly 23, 2026
4 hours ago
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc.
AIAlphabet
Anthropic and SpaceX just handed Google the biggest profit quarter in company history—on paper
By Eva RoytburgJuly 22, 2026
12 hours ago
‘It’s called StreetEasy, not StreetHard’: Mamdani cracks down on scourge of ‘housefishing’ and ‘real estate slop’
Real EstateHousing
‘It’s called StreetEasy, not StreetHard’: Mamdani cracks down on scourge of ‘housefishing’ and ‘real estate slop’
By Tatiana SatauaJuly 22, 2026
14 hours ago
As Washington panics about Chinese AI, Jensen Huang says open-source models like Kimi are ‘excellent’ and should be embraced, not banned
AIChina
As Washington panics about Chinese AI, Jensen Huang says open-source models like Kimi are ‘excellent’ and should be embraced, not banned
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 22, 2026
14 hours ago
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sits next to U.S. President Donald Trump.
AITech regulation
OpenAI’s rogue hacking incident was a warning shot. Will it be a wake-up call to finally create AI safety regulation?
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 22, 2026
15 hours ago

Most Popular

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
18 hours ago
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
3 days ago
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
AI
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
Cybersecurity
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
Success
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
By Emma BurleighJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
Economy
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 22, 2026
16 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.