All you need to know about bug bounty

WHAT ARE BUG BOUNTIES?

Have you ever come upon a wanted poster? Imagine an organization paying you to find bugs in software instead of some hardened criminals; To sum it up, this is kind of how a bug bounty program works.

Bug bounties are created by companies to reward independent bug bounty hunters who find security vulnerabilities and weaknesses in systems. Companies pay bounty hunters for reporting valid bugs so that they can find security flaws before bad actors do.

Bug bounties essentially allow companies to tap into the community of ethical hackers (also known as "white hats")—those authorized to gain access to an organization's IT assets—in order to implement malicious attackers' strategies and actions and expose vulnerabilities that can be fixed before cybercriminals arrive.

HOW DOES BUG BOUNTY WORK?

A business creates acceptable parameters after deciding on a budget and the scope for its programme. While some companies give carte blanche to white hats, others create explicit boundaries and keep some IT components off-limits so that operations, productivity, and revenues are not harmed.

Hackers worldwide are on the lookout for bugs and, in some circumstances, make a living doing so. Bounty schemes attract a diverse group of hackers with various skill sets and expertise, offering firms an advantage over vulnerability assessments that rely on inexperienced security personnel.

When a hacker discovers a bug, they write up a disclosure report that describes the bug in detail, including what it is, how it affects the programme, and how serious it is. The hacker provides significant methods and details to assist developers in reproducing and validating the flaw. The corporation pays the bounty to the hacker when the developers evaluate and validate the problem.

Bounty programmes are frequently used in conjunction with regular penetration testing to allow enterprises to assess the security of their applications throughout their development life cycles.

BUG BOUNTY EXAMPLES

Microsoft : Microsoft presently offers 17 bug bounty programmes via which researchers can receive money. The Hyper-V programme gives the most generous prize, up to $250,000.The Microsoft Identity reward is equally significant, as it applies to Microsoft Account, Azure Active Directory, and some OpenID standards. The maximum prize is $100,000.

Google : Google's Vulnerability Rewards Program began in 2010. It has subsequently paid out more than $15 million, with $3.4 million given in 2018 (and $1.7 million targeted on Android and Chrome problems). In 2018 , the greatest single payment was $41,000 to an unidentified researcher. Ezequiel Pereira, a 19-year-old Uruguayan who discovered a Remote Code Execution flaw in Google's Cloud Platform interface, got $36,000 as part of the public bounty.

Facebook : The social network's bug bounty program has paid out $7.5 million since its inception in 2011. A security researcher was given a $55,000 bug bounty last year after chaining two vulnerabilities in an unknown third-party application to perform server-side request forgery (SSRF) and attack Facebook's internal network.

BugBase: BugBase is India’s first consolidated bug bounty platform that hosts bug bounty programs for companies in an open marketplace for ethical hackers and has recently on-boarded companies like Boat and ccube on their platform. BugBase also boasts an active community of 5000+ Hackers and security personnel equipped and skilled in vulnerability testing and detection, which has attracted upcoming startups and million dollar companies to on board themselves onto it’s bug bounty program.

WHY DO WE NEED BUG BOUNTY?

Over the years, with the introduction of new technologies, various vulnerabilities became increasingly detectable, and so did the exposure of these vulnerabilities to hackers becoming prominent. In a country like India, it became increasingly evident that detection & handling of such vulnerabilities, also known as bugs, is necessary.

The State Bank of India compromised the data of its 422 million clients in 2019 when one of its servers was left unencrypted. The back-end text messaging system was left unencrypted, allowing anybody to view and trace text communications in real-time.

In 2018, a?huge data leak of 1.1 billion Indian Aadhaar cardholders' personal information was detected. According to the UIDAI, over 210 Indian government websites have?released people's Aadhaar numbers online. Aadhaar, PAN, cellphone numbers, bank account numbers, IFSC codes, and almost all personal information of every individual cardholder were among the data exposed.

Another case of an infamous data breach was the AirIndia data breach. Passengers' personal information was leaked due to a hack on the systems of airline data service provider SITA. According to the released documents, the data was collected between August 2011 and February 2021. According to the airline, the passenger's name, date of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket information, frequent flier data, and credit card information were among the data stolen.

With the increase in exploitation of various bugs, breach data significantly increased. Therefore, in order to accurately detect and identify organisations found the need to initiate bug bounty programs.

HOW CAN I SET UP MY OWN BUG BOUNTY PLATFORM?

Traditionally, Companies used to have to construct their own communication platform, establish bug tracking systems, and integrate them into payment gateways before they could start a bug bounty programme.

Using BugBase, setting up a bug bounty programme is now a straightforward process. Organizations may use the BugBase platform to define their scope, track bug reports, and manage rewards all from one place. Detailed reporting metrics provide security teams with a real-time view of the success of their bug bounty programmes.

BENEFITS OF BUG BOUNTY PLATFORMS?

Bug bounty platforms like BugBase are gaining traction in both the public and private sectors. This is due to the fact that these platforms give a variety of benefits to both corporations and hackers:

The main advantage of a bug bounty programme is that it allows a business to identify and address a variety of vulnerabilities in their software and the Hackers to earn rewards and develop their skills. An organization's chances of detecting vulnerabilities before they're employed in attacks are better with a bug bounty programme. This helps to safeguard the company's reputation while also minimizing the risk of high-value hacks.

Bug bounty schemes also provide a business access to talent that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to recruit and keep internally. Many participants in bug bounty programmes are extremely knowledgeable and specialize in vulnerability detection.

Bug bounty schemes attract these bug hunters because they have the potential to pay out large sums of money on a regular basis if they are proficient. Even if these hunters were interested in working for a company, they would almost certainly be pricey. A bug bounty programme allows a company to have its vulnerabilities tested by more bug hunters with a wider range of skills and talents than a standard penetration test or vulnerability scan would allow.

HOW BUGBASE CAN HELP.

BugBase is a curated marketplace for ethical hackers that helps businesses and startups set up bug bounty programmes. It is India's first consolidated bug bounty platform, which assists organizations in staying safe by providing an all-in-one platform for continuous and comprehensive security testing.

Through BugBase registering and setting up your organisation’s bug bounty program is no less than a breeze. We also provide hackers and security professionals with the platform to directly get connected with organizations that have set up their bug bounty programs and get rewarded for the risks and vulnerabilities they find.

CONCLUSION

Bug Bounty Platforms such as BugBase allow cybersecurity professionals and organisations to collaborate and thrive together. Needless to add, it also offers a healthy alternative to black hat hacking, allowing cybersecurity specialists to develop careers while simultaneously making the internet a safer place. Bug bounty hunting's meritocratic approach allows hackers from all walks of life to compete on an equal footing. Bug bounties are a great way for people to work together and flourish. They may continue to develop the security sector as a whole with enough careful preparation and analysis. There is no question that bug bounties will play a key part in the field of cybersecurity as the number of organisations joining the bug bounty programmes grows throughout the world.