| Jacob Riggs | |
| Nationality: | British |
| Known For: | Deadswitch |
| Occupation: | Ethical hacker, speaker |
Jacob Riggs is a British ethical hacker[1] best known as founder of Deadswitch, a dead man’s switch designed to protect journalists, dissidents, and whistleblowers.[2]
In 2015, Riggs was credited with saving the life of a stab victim who had collapsed in the street with multiple stab-wounds to his left arm, chest and back.[3]
In 2016, he began working on Deadswitch, a cloud-based dead man’s switch intended to provide an immutable data insurance service for individuals at risk.[4]
In 2018, he supported a collaborative investigation into former Saudi Arabian royal court advisor Saud al-Qahtani and his involvement with HackingTeam and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.[5]
In 2020, Riggs discovered a bug within Facebook and WhatsApp which provided unauthorized access to law enforcement portals used to submit sensitive data requests.[6]
In 2021, he received recognition from the National Cyber Security Centre - Netherlands (NCSC-NL), for his contributions to identifying and reporting vulnerabilities within their critical infrastructure. Riggs also received $100,000 in prize money that was funded by Huntress Labs, an American cybersecurity firm founded by Kyle Hanslovan.[7] He was presented with a vulnerability disclosure hacker coin from the UK National Cyber Security Centre on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence.[8]
Riggs was credited with Hall of Fame recognition by the United Nations in 2021.[9]
In 2022, he was presented with a trophy and formal letter of appreciation from Belastingdienst on behalf of the Dutch government.[10] He was awarded a limited edition solid gold coin, commemorating the life and legacy of the mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing for disclosing a security vulnerability to The Royal Mint.[11]