Kernel & virtualisation
Three researchers focused on operating systems, isolation boundaries and hypervisor internals. This is where our published work comes from.
About
Twelve people who have carried the pager.
Null Warden was founded on a simple frustration: the people who find the vulnerability and the people who write the report are rarely the people who close it. We built a practice where they are the same people.
Our story
Why we exist
Every one of us has sat on the other side of a findings report. We have written them, triaged them, ignored them under deadline pressure, and been on the receiving end of one that was technically correct and completely useless.
A finding that arrives without a working proof of concept, without a reproduction path, and without a fix that closes the class of bug is a burden transferred rather than work removed. We wanted to be the people who removed the work.
That means research and delivery sit together. The researcher who proves an exploitable path is the one who writes the fix and argues for it. Nothing gets lost in translation, because there is no translation.
We are twelve. We are not trying to be a hundred. We stay small enough that every engagement is staffed by people who have done the work before, and large enough to cover an incident at 3am without anyone working alone.
How we work
Four commitments
Evidence over assertion. We do not report a vulnerability we have not exploited. Every finding ships with a proof of concept, reproduction steps and a confirmed business impact.
Research is a public good. Our findings are published after coordinated disclosure. We do not treat a bug we found as a commercial asset to be sold back to the vendor.
New Zealand owned and operated. Our people, source code, research and IP are onshore. No offshore development, no offshore delivery.
No overclaiming. If your estate is in good shape, we will tell you it is in good shape. We would rather lose a deal than sell a test that finds nothing.
The team
Who you will actually work with
We do not have a bench. The people below are the people who scope, execute and deliver.
Firmware & hardware
Two engineers who reverse engineer devices for a living. Boot chains, update mechanisms and the hardware assumptions that make them fail.
Application & cloud
Four researchers covering web, API, mobile and cloud. They read source code when it is available and reverse it when it is not.
Detection engineering
Two engineers who turn our findings into detections. If a fix ships, they make sure you can see someone try the old technique.
Assurance & standards
One engineer mapping our work to your certification path, so the evidence you hand an auditor is evidence you already have.
Operations
One person who runs the practice, so the twelve researchers can stay researchers. They will still answer your email.
Facts
2026
Founded
Established in Auckland, New Zealand.
NZ
Headquarters
All staff, research and IP onshore.
12
Specialists
Senior only. No juniors billed as seniors.
5
Practices
Offensive, research, hardening, response, assurance.
Clearances
Cleared personnel available
Several of our researchers hold current security clearances, which lets us work on defence and government programmes without introducing an uncleared intermediary into the chain. We can provide evidence of clearance as part of a tender response.
Discuss a cleared engagementWork with us
If you have an estate that has to hold, or a problem you cannot get past, talk to the person who will actually do the work.