How Do Bug Bounties Work? How Do They Function? With illustrations

Do you need some illustrations of bug bounties? We'll define bug bounties and walk you through how they operate step-by-step using real-world examples.

The Workings of Bug Bounties

Businesses establish bug bounties to reward independent bug bounty hunters who identify security holes and weak points in the software. When bounty hunters report legitimate bugs, companies pay them for discovering security flaws before malicious actors do.

The Definition of a Bug Bounty
A bug bounty is a financial reward given to ethical hackers who successfully find and alert the developer of the application to a vulnerability or problem. Through bug bounty programs, businesses can use the hacker community to continuously increase the security of their systems.

Around the world, hackers look for defects and, in some circumstances, make a living at them. Bounty programs give firms an advantage over testing that might use less experienced security teams to uncover vulnerabilities since they draw a diverse group of hackers with a variety of skill sets and expertise.

Bounty programs frequently serve as a supplement to normal penetration testing and give businesses a method to assess the security of their applications all the way through the development process.

What's the Process of a Bug Bounty Program?
Before beginning a bounty program, businesses must define its parameters, including its budget. A scope identifies the systems that can be tested by hackers and describe the testing process. Some businesses, for instance, prohibit testing in specific domains or stipulate that testing has no effect on regular company activities. As a result, they may deploy security testing without affecting their organization's overall productivity, efficiency, or bottom line.

Companies that offer lucrative bug bounties to hackers demonstrate their commitment to security and vulnerability disclosure. The severity of vulnerabilities is taken into account when setting incentive levels, and payouts rise as the potential impact rises.

The hacker community is driven by more than just money. Systems like leaderboards, which reward hackers for discoveries, aid in their rise to fame.

When a hacker finds a problem, they file a disclosure report outlining the bug's exact nature, effects on the application, and level of severity. To enable developers to recreate and validate the flaw, the hacker gives crucial methods and information. The business pays the hacker the bounty following a review and confirmation of the bug by the developers.

Depending on the firm and the possible impact of the bug, payouts might range from a few thousand dollars to millions of dollars, depending on the severity. According to severity, developers will try to prioritize incoming bug reports and fix the issues. Developers retest to ensure issue resolution following bug fixes.

Examples of Bug Bounty Programs
Some of the most well-known corporations in the world use bounty schemes to safeguard the security of their users' apps and transactions. The three businesses that use HackerOne to manage their bounty programs are listed below.

SHOPIFY
Security is a significant priority for Shopify's business performance because it offers e-commerce services to more than 500,000 businesses worldwide. Shopify has paid over $1,580,000 in bounties to hackers so far and will pay up to $30,000 for the disclosure of serious flaws.

A serious vulnerability that permitted unauthorized access to merchant accounts was found in December 2020 by a hacker. The Shopify team was informed by the hacker in time for Christmas Eve, one of the busiest shopping days in e-commerce, thanks to the bug bounty program. @cache-money, a hacker, received $15,000 in addition to a $250 prize for his discovery and disclosure.

YELP
Searchers can find fantastic local businesses globally thanks to Yelp. Since 2014, Yelp has chosen HackerOne to administer its bounty program. Yelp has 19 separate domains in scope, including everything from mobile apps to email systems, having recognized the usefulness of the hacker community. Over 300 vulnerabilities have been fixed by Yelp using its bug bounty program so far, and the company is still adding more applications and domains to its roadmap.

GROUP MAIL.RU
The bug bounty program run by the Mail.ru Group has fixed over 4,300 vulnerabilities since 2014. The Mail.ru Group recently paid out more than $1 million in rewards to hackers who assisted with the security of Mail.ru's email hosting.

Hackers can comprehend the expected reward based on the compromised system and severity level by using a detailed spreadsheet provided by Mail.ru Group, which pays up to $35,000 for the most serious defects reported. The Mail.ru Group will even compensate for defects that are discovered in partner providers' software.

How Do I Create My Own Bug Bounty Scheme?
In the past, organizations had to develop their communication platform, put in place bug-tracking programs, and interface with payment methods in order to set up a bug bounty program. Through HackerOne, setting up a bug bounty program is now a straightforward procedure. Organizations may define their scope, keep track of bug reports, and handle compensation all from one place using the HackerOne platform.

Security teams can monitor the status of their bug bounty programs in real-time thanks to detailed reporting metrics, which also enable businesses to quickly specify specific SLAs for handling new disclosures.

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Nikhil Kanojia

Blogger-Digital Marketer

Hacktechmedia.com