Authorisation first
Nothing is tested without written permission and a defined scope. No exceptions, including for clients who ask.
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About
Woman-owned, Detroit, operating since 2015.
Blackbourne Worldwide is a woman-owned cybersecurity services company. We work on the offensive side of security — social engineering, penetration testing and security research — and operate the monitoring and response capability that makes the findings matter.
What we do
Our core business is cyber threat analysis, social intelligence, and security research and development, with 24/7 security for networks. We use the attack vectors, methodologies and processes that black-hat operators use, under written authorisation, so that our clients meet the adversary on their own terms before the adversary chooses the time.
Our proprietary social engineering platform lets us focus on the weakest element of any system: the human. Our security research staff build attacks custom to your business, your applications and your software, because a generic pretext is easy to dismiss and a researched one is not.
Where we came from
The company was founded in 2015 and is based in Detroit, Michigan. In 2016 we were selected for the Adopt-A-Biz program run by the Macomb-Oakland University INCubator, which supports early-stage cybersecurity companies in southeast Michigan, and we worked alongside the Michigan Cyber Range's Velocity Hub — using it to sharpen our own training environment.
| Founded | 2015 |
| Headquarters | Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Ownership | Woman-owned |
| Industry | Computer and network security |
| Coverage | 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year |
| Containment | Emergency Response Team, under 30 minutes |
Specialties. Cyber threat analysis and mitigation · social engineering · security research · penetration testing · social engineering certifications · secure source review.
Identity
The mark.
A winged emblem inside a double ring — the same logo carried on the company's LinkedIn page since the current brand was set.
Blackbourne Worldwide
The mark is black and red on white: a winged device within a ringed border. Used at 36px in the site header and as the favicon.
BRAND RED · #CD2219
BRAND BLACK · #1A0706
GROUND · #FFFFFF
Founder
The human side, taken seriously.
“A master of the human psyche, who may at a moment's notice bend the will of another human to fit his own, a hacker of the human mind.”
Social Engineer — Blackbourne WorldwideNatalie Blackbourne founded Blackbourne Worldwide and leads its social engineering practice. She has dedicated her life to the study of human emotion — a lifelong interest that produced certifications in Forensic Emotion Awareness, Evaluating Truthfulness and Credibility, and Emotional Skills, alongside master's-level work in Emotions, Deception and Credibility.
As technology developed, she combined advances in cybersecurity with the idiosyncrasies of human behaviour. Her work is built on a straightforward position: influence and manipulation are ordinary parts of working life, and a security programme that does not understand them is testing the wrong thing.
She writes and speaks on the human layer of security, and her stated goal is to demonstrate the power of human emotion — and its consequences — in cybersecurity today.
How we operate
Four commitments.
Real world or not at all
A test that could not happen in production proves nothing. Our attacks are built for your business, applications and software.
Investigate, do not just report
Every attack produces a forensic investigation and, where malware is involved, a reverse-engineering analysis.
Tell you what we cannot do
If a request crosses a legal or ethical line, or if a cheaper engagement would answer the question, we say so.
Work with us
We hire people who can explain what they found.
Offensive security is a communication discipline as much as a technical one. If you can find the weakness and then explain it to the engineer who has to fix it, we would like to hear from you.
Talk to us about your exposure.
Whether you need a targeted test, standing monitoring or training for your team, the first conversation is about what you are trying to protect.