When someone says the word “hacker,” we often get an image of a guy sitting in his mom’s basement typing away at a computer with an evil grin on his face. In today’s culture, hacking is extremely prevalent, whether we like it or not.  However, two young entrepreneurs are looking to change the way the world views hackers.

Jobert Abma and Michiel Prins were born in Drachten, Netherlands and have been friends since childhood. Growing up with video games and the rapidly expanding internet, these self-taught hackers turned their hobby into multi-million dollar business called HackerOne. This revolutionary industry continues to change the way businesses approach their cyber security. And to think it all started with a high school prank.

In their senior year, Abma and Prins proceeded to hack into their school’s TV station as a prank. Obviously the prank worked rather well, for they continued this unusual hobby into college. However, one day their hobby went from merely entertaining to incredibly profitable. At Hanze University in the Netherlands, Prins and Abma came across a major bug in the school’s grading system that was leaking student’s personal information. They immediately reported their find to the software company in charge of security, and though they weren’t paid for their discovery, it sparked a whole new idea. Maybe there were companies out there who would pay them to find major holes in their systems.

The two friends began a small consulting company in the Netherlands, but were inspired by a friend to move to Silicon Valley in San Francisco. They emailed big time companies, like Google and Facebook, asking if the companies would be interested in their services. Unfortunately, many weren’t. However, the head of security of Facebook said if they found any security breaches to contact him. Prins and Abma accepted the invitation to do some digging and managed to find a fairly large hole in Facebook Messenger. They contacted the head of security, Alex Rice, and HackerOne was born.

“We’re like a talent agency that matches trusted hackers with specific skills with companies,” says Abma in description of HackerOne. They connect hackers and companies, making it easy to do business with these massive money savers. It’s true, these hackers can save companies millions of dollars by finding breaches before malicious hackers. They’ve worked with over 1,000 companies, and each job can get anything from a couple hundred dollars to $10,000.

HackerOne employs free-lance hackers, and in exchange for backing and clearance, they receive a percentage of each bounty. Most hackers don’t mind this deal, as they continue to earn significant money from HackerOne’s reputation and connections. Jack Cable, an 18 year-old senior, says, “When you’re hunting for a bug on HackerOne, you know you’ll get paid. HackerOne holds companies to their word.”

That being said, hacking can be hazardous for business as many companies are against this kind of vigilante security. HackerOne has run into trouble with Uber, as they accused on of the hackers of stealing information. While HackerOne received no blame, it still raises questions about the difference between good and bad hackers. Prins and Abma, however, remain confident in their company’s goal. “One of HackerOne’s biggest missions is to change the perception of hackers as good guys,” Prins says. And it seems to be working as they continue to bring in revenue and $74 million worth of funding. Maybe it’s time for our perception of hacking to change. Prins and Abma definitely think so.