Cheviot Hills-headquartered anti-hacking startup Cesppa Inc. closed a $1.5 million seed round July 26, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

This new filing shows the round included contributions from 27 investors. Filings with the California Secretary of State indicate the company was founded in March.

Cesppa is comprised of a network of white-hat hackers, computer programmers who attempt to penetrate protected systems and identify security vulnerabilities for companies, who can then improve their defenses. The company focuses on providing end-to-end solutions for clients affected by security vulnerabilities in their software or applications and is headed by chief executive Joseph Melika.

Before founding Cesppa, Melika served as director of network operations for Viacom Inc. and head of security engineering for Verizon Digital Media Services Inc.

Tech reporter Samson Amore can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8335. Follow him on Twitter @samsonamore.