Innovation

Zoetermeer, 1 July 2026 — DEFION Security, the cybersecurity company specialised in pentesting and managed detection and response, introduces the DEFION Pentest Agent. This AI agent identifies vulnerabilities in applications with a speed and coverage that manual pentesting cannot match. At the same time, the company announces a leadership change. Chief Client Officer Talitha Papelard becomes managing director Benelux, allowing founder and CEO Hartger Ruijs to focus fully on product development and AI innovation.

Traditional pentests of enterprise applications quickly take multiple weeks, mainly because the volume is too large. An application with 800 potential vulnerabilities can never be fully tested manually; specialists make assumptions and prioritise. This creates blind spots.

DEFION's Pentest Agent systematically works through all potential vulnerabilities, generates findings and submits them to an ethical hacker. The hacker assesses them, filters out false positives and delivers a validated report. Eighty percent of the testing work is carried out by the agent, the remaining twenty percent by the human. The result: full coverage, in just a few hours.

“We are not replacing humans, we are enabling our ethical hackers to do more,” says CEO Hartger Ruijs. “Not one attack scenario a day, but dozens, with a coverage and quality that a human alone cannot match.”

A traditional pentest of an application quickly costs between 10,000 and 20,000 euros. With the Pentest Agent, costs can nearly be halved. For sectors with heavy compliance obligations, for example financial institutions subject to regulation such as DORA, the Pentest Agent offers a direct advantage. Banks with hundreds of applications that need to be tested periodically can significantly increase testing frequency within the same budget.

The Pentest Agent is not deployed by default in every pentest. Ruijs: “Clients who prefer a fully manual pentest can indicate that; we tailor the approach to the assignment and the organisation's wishes.”

First step in a broader AI strategy

Since early 2026, DEFION has been working on a broader range of agents that autonomously carry out specific tasks. Today's launch marks the start of a rollout in which agentic technology is embedded step by step across the full range of services: from prevention to detection and response. DEFION is already deploying many agents internally to improve and optimise its own operations.

Technically, the Pentest Agent is built on existing AI models from multiple providers. DEFION has deliberately chosen model independence. If a newer or better model becomes available, the agent can be transferred to it. The service can be delivered GDPR-compliant, with data processing within Europe via Amazon Bedrock.

DEFION's agentic strategy calls for a leadership change

The AI era calls for a new type of leadership, one that not only recognises the value of AI for innovation and the impact of AI on security, but is also able to act on it. DEFION is putting this insight into practice.

CCO Talitha Papelard immediately takes over operational and commercial responsibility for the Benelux from Ruijs as managing director. She brings more than twenty years of experience at the intersection of cybersecurity, strategy and commercial growth, including at Northwave and KPN. “What DEFION is building is exactly what the market needs: security that moves with the threat instead of trailing behind it. That requires a CEO who understands technology and entrepreneurship in one breath. That is the new leadership, and that is what is present here. I feel honoured to be part of this.”

For Ruijs, this means he gets the room to do what he started the company for: building and innovating. “This step gives me the opportunity to build the next generation of agents together with Abraham Pasamar, the managing director of our company in Spain,” says Ruijs. “The advantage of AI should not lie with the attackers, it belongs with the defenders. So I am going back to my role from the early days of Computest in 2005, but now with all the knowledge of today and a company of more than 100 employees. This allows me to be actively involved in our product development, take risks, and create solutions that will still make the difference in five years' time.”

About DEFION Security

DEFION Security was founded in 2005 and is an independent cybersecurity company with offices in Zoetermeer (the Netherlands) and Barcelona (Spain). With more than one hundred specialists, the company protects more than a thousand organisations across Europe. Its service portfolio includes strategic advisory, pentesting, 24/7 managed detection & response, incident response and business continuity. DEFION Research Labs continuously supports original threat research.

Note for editors: DEFION Security is the new name under which the Dutch company Computest Security, founded in 2005, and the Spanish Incide have been operating together since September 2025.

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