Twenty-four-year-old Ehraz Ahmed is a college drop-out but his passion for technology has led him to help big tech companies like Airtel, TrueCaller, Netflix, Facebook etc safeguard their user’s data.
Shalini S, TwoCircles.net
Mysore: Ehraz Ahmed is a 24-year-old Bangalore based ethical hacker, entrepreneur and fintech professional who has saved millions of user data in several top-notch companies from getting hacked.
Ehraz has identified security breaches in celebrated companies like Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, SoundCloud, Airtel and Truecaller. At a young age of 16, he achieved the mark of Security Researcher Hall of Fame appellation in 50 such high user data-based applications. “I am continually trying to save significant companies from getting hacked. Last year alone, I protected over 700 million user data and safeguarded major Indian tech companies from potential data breaches. The biggest was in Airtel, risking 325 million user data from getting leaked online,” Ehraz told TwoCircles.net.
“Becoming an entrepreneur is like jumping out of a plane without a parachute. While landing one has to build their parachute,” Ehraz told TwoCircles.net.
Ehraz talked about his journey from a fervent tech prodigy to a successful entrepreneur.
During his childhood, Ehraz and his brother used to go to cyber cafes and spend time playing video games. His penchant for technology and digital literacy was already blooming by then. At 14, he established himself as a game hosting provider.
While still in his teens, he came across a Facebook post about a security researcher who had identified the application’s vulnerability and got rewarded and acknowledged for it. “I am getting paid to expose the flaws, who wouldn’t like that?” says Ehraz sportively, and he recalls the incident as a prime motivator for him to become an ethical hacker.
When questioned about the morality involved in being a white hat (a person who hacks into a computer network to test or evaluate its security systems), he says, “I use Airtel. I wouldn’t want my privacy at risk, and I respect others’ right to privacy.”
“I run two companies now and I know how important and sensitive private data is. Aspirehive, a data security company shelters the websites of other micro-enterprises and businesses,” he adds.
Voxy Wealth Management, his fintech company, offers financial advice and analytics to traders.
Taking a dig at the role of security researchers in different companies, he says, “Most of the entrepreneurs and big scale industries underestimate cyber-attacks and are overconfident about their system’s security, sometimes they lack funding and brush aside the hiring of security researchers. This, in a way, increases the scope for bug bounties to freelance.”
Talking about the banning of Chinese apps by the Government of India during the LAC standoff, Ehraz said, “The government red-flagged Chinese applications citing security reasons, but trust me, one would be surprised to know how vulnerable Indian applications are. It took me only 15 minutes to identify the flaw in Airtel, and over 300 million users were prone to cyber-attack.”
Ehraz says that he doesn’t want to be part of a rat race. “I only craved limited knowledge and I learnt it the right way. In college, the quality of knowledge that I was acquiring seemed contrived,” he says on dropping out of college after freshman year.
Ehraz studied engineering at PES College of Engineering, Mandya in Karnataka for a year. Though his parents were apprehensive about this significant leap of his, Ehraz was confident as he knew what he wanted.
He learnt his way into AI (Artificial Intelligence) by researching on the internet. He emphasises the importance of identifying one’s community and expanding the network. “One needs to diagnose a problem out there and his company becomes the solution. That’s how entrepreneurship is achieved,” he says.
“Proper planning, knowing his capacity and utilising the limited resources wisely,” Ehraz says has helped him ground himself while starting a company. “I have also had my ups and downs. Being the youngest at the field comes with a lot of challenges. I need to compete with others radically and, in doing so, criticisms will be directed at me, but I take them as compliments,” he says.
During the lockdown, when Covid-19 cases were steadily increasing in number, Ehraz designed a Covid XRay scanner. “The source code is available on the internet for further improvisations,” he said.
At present, he is a secretary of Gayathri Higher Primary School, a non – profit school for the underprivileged children in Mysore, Karnataka.
It was Ehraz’s father Aijaz Ahmed, who established this school in 1982, right after completing his master’s degree in Science from University of Mysore (UoM). His father had started this school with the sole purpose of educating the children of Gayatripuram, which used to be a residential colony for military personnel. “More than 4,000 students have graduated from this school with flying colours, set to pursue higher education,” he says.
Ehraz, a digital Robinhood is the only Indian to safeguard over billion-user data from cyber–attacks.
At present, he is working on establishing his third company ‘Amazon for Websites.’ “The company will focus on providing web services and management,” he says.
Ehraz plans to analyse big data and secure the privacy of multitude of users in the process.
Ehraz’s is a story of a young Muslim youth who pushes his limitations, follows his dreams and wants to live a life filled with meaning and purpose.