There is always that one superhero willing to play nice with the villain. In the world of tech hackers, HackerOne is that superhero. HackerOne acknowledges that modern security is hacker-powered. They have created a platform for vulnerability coordination and bug bounty. In other words, HackerOne works with hackers to find security holes in your company, because to be honest, who better to trust than the villain himself!
HackerOne facilitates communication between hackers and companies. If a hacker does find a bug, HackerOne works as the middleman ensuring the company pays the hacker for the discovery, charging 20 percent commission of the hacker’s pay out. Companies such as Uber, Dropbox, Square, Snapchat, Airbnb, Vimeo, have all joined the HackerOne movement.
Bugcrowd works similar to HackerOne, bringing together good hackers with companies looking to verify their security systems. In comparison to HackerOne, which rewards hackers with a payout decided by the company in question, Bugcrowd works on a subscription basis. Charging a service fee or a project-based charge, Bugcrowd provides market rate suggestions for rewards and manages all payouts for their companies. Their companies consist of AT&T, Dropbox, Facebook, Etsy, Paypal, Twitter, just to name a few. As you might notice, some of the companies listed are clients of both HackerOne and Bugcrowd.
Google, of course, has a public bug bounty program of their own, that offers up to $100,000 for hackers who find vulnerabilities in its Chrome software. Although the reward amount depends on the size of the bug, the rewards are substantial enough to keep hacker interest, ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousands.
Opening a bug bounty program to the public, puts forth the message that the company values the security of its systems and lessens the likelihood of malicious activity. Despite strong efforts to keep systems secure, no one bulletproof organization exists. In the fight against hackers, a little incentive goes a long way toward a more secure system.
If you would like to educate yourself in more detail about the information presented in this blog post please visit: Meet the Middlemen Who Connect Hackers for Hire With Corporate America
