Cybersecurity CEO Unwittingly Hires Criminal Hacker, Faces Police Raid and Media Storm

Rogier Fischer, an ethical hacker and founder of cybersecurity firm Hadrian, faced a major crisis when police raided his office over suspicions that one of his employees was involved in extortion. The raid turned up nothing—Fischer called it "bullshit" and said the office didn’t even have a piece of paper lying around.

Unbeknownst to him, Fischer had hired Pepijn van der S., a man with a hidden past as a criminal hacker who had extorted companies like Ticketmaster and LiteBit for millions in ransom. Van der S. had previously approached Fischer under a fake identity, and only after the police raid did Fischer connect the dots—realizing this was the same person he had once communicated with anonymously on a dark web forum.

The timing was brutal. Fischer had just secured a major investment from ABN Amro and was celebrating at home when he got the call from the police. He had to abandon a romantic trip to Tanzania, where he had just proposed to his girlfriend, and rush back to manage the fallout.

Despite the chaos, Fischer chose radical transparency—talking openly to the media and clients, even when his own team hesitated. It paid off: the company’s integrity remained intact. The police later confirmed that Van der S.’s crimes were committed before joining Hadrian, and he never accessed critical systems.

Fischer has even arranged for Van der S., now finishing a 4-year prison sentence, to start working again—believing in second chances. Still, Fischer admits feeling deeply betrayed at the time. “He stood for everything I’ve fought against,” he says. But ultimately, Fischer sees the incident as a leadership test: standing alone, taking responsibility, and doing what’s right, not what’s easy.

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https://fd.nl/financiele-markten/1550825/die-hele-politie-inval-was-bullshit-veel-stennis-om-niks