Simon Bauwens

Overview

Simon Bauwens is co-founder and CEO of OutKept, a Belgian Cybersecurity startup providing a phishing simulation platform supported by a community of ethical phishers to enhance organizational security awareness.

Simon Bauwens is the co-founder and chief executive of OutKept, which he co-founded in March 2020. He is based in Ghent.

Between September 2020 and December 2021 he worked as a freelance consultant for Elia Group. He was a manager at Kearney from January 2019 to February 2020, and co-founded ProRobotics in July 2018, remaining with it until February 2021. Earlier he was a consultant at Arthur D. Little from January 2016 to December 2018, following a summer internship at HOMT in 2015 and an international MBA at IE Business School, from which he graduated in 2015.

From July 2012 to June 2014 he was at Teatro Real, where he was assistant to artistic director Gerard Mortier and head of the youth department. He began his career at the cultural management agency C-Zuur, where he was production manager from November 2009 to August 2012. He holds a master's degree in sociology from Ghent University, completed in 2009.

Career history

1. FounderOutKept

Media & appearances

• All Colors of CommunicationYouTube
  All Colors vraagt door - SIMON BAUWENS - Co-founder bij OutkeptSimon Bauwens discusses how Outkept operates as a platform that sends phishing emails for educational purposes to help people learn to recognize and respond to phishing threats, noting that cybersecurity measures have made actual phishing emails rare.
• Infinigate BelgiumYouTube
  Infinigate NXT: Ep. 14 - Let's talk phishing: In conversation with Simon BauwensSimon Bauwens discusses how he and his co-founder Dieter started Outkept four years ago to address the growing phishing threat, initially building a product and then developing an ethical hacker community model to scale their efforts. He explains that phishing has become more professionalized and automated, with tools and email databases now available cheaply on the dark web, and that AI is accelerating these attacks by enabling convincing emails without deep target knowledge.
• Suyin & MalysterYouTube
  S5.A3 : Simon Bauwens - Co-founder OutKept (Powered by Akkodis)Simon Bauwens discusses OutKept, an ethical phishing platform that helps organizations protect against ransomware and phishing attacks by using a community of ethical hackers to conduct realistic simulation training. He explains that phishing involves stealing data through deceptive means, often starting with misleading emails that trick people into compromising information or money, and distinguishes it from hacking, which focuses on breaking into systems.