What is a bug bounty program?
If you know the field of security and software, you must have a question: how can you earn from your understanding? One of the ways is Bug bounty! If you are interested in discovering bugs and ways to penetrate websites, applications, etc., this is the right job for you; Do not miss this article!
What is Bug bounty?
In the past, when someone found a problem with a site or used a bug to infiltrate a particular organization, they would sell or exploit that problem. Still, today, this has many consequences the increase in cybersecurity. So, how can you make money from information in this field? Over time, the exploitation of bugs gave way to reporting them to the developer in exchange for a reward, also called a bug bounty or Vulnerability Reward Program (VRP).
A bug bounty is generally a program for security professionals and white hat hackers to find bugs and vulnerabilities in websites and applications, which helps increase their security. They are rewarded for finding bugs that allow exploits and intrusions and reporting them to developers. Of course, it’s a win-win deal; the expert gets rewarded for finding bugs, and the developer improves their website’s security and fixes problems before they become public and cause a big problem.
Bug bunting programs are also commonly used in vulnerability management strategies, penetration testing, and code security testing. It is better to know that Bug bounty specialists are also called bounty Hunters. Many companies, including Google, Mozilla, Facebook, etc., use Bugbounty.
What is a bug?
It is better to get information about the bug before reading the rest of the article about the bounty bug. The bug means an insect. In computer science, this word means a defect or software bug. Software defects are of different types and have different origins. Therefore, the errors that disrupt the correct software execution are called bugs. If you want more information on this field, read the article What is a bug?
When was the first bounty bug implemented?
For the first time in 1851, this phrase was proposed when the company producing the safety paid a value equivalent to 200 gold bars in exchange for opening a physical lock.
But the first bug bounty was implemented in the digital world in 1983 by Hunter and Ready for an operating system. Those who found the bugs got a Volkswagen. After that, many companies implemented it; most enthusiasts were software engineers.
Ridlinghafer took the primary step in the bug bounty field for Netscape with the idea he gave. That led to the launch of the first Bug Bounty officially since 1995, and the name has stuck with this type of penetration testing until now.
Another important event in this field is related to Facebook. A computer science student discovered a bug in Facebook accounts and reported it, which Facebook software officials initially ignored. After some time, he presented a video of that bug to Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s owner, and decided to pay for it. The bug and its fix will give Facebook credit cards to those interested in this field. This Facebook bug bounty program continued until 2014.
What is the difference between bug bunting and penetration testing?
Bug bounty has many advantages over penetration testing, the most important of which is turning gray and even black hat hackers into positive white hat hackers. Still, the security expert is pitted against black and gray hat hackers in penetration tests.
- The new security method (bug bounty ) is much more economical than the traditional method (pentest).
- Due to the larger population of bug bounty activists, it is faster than traditional penetration tests. Also, the larger number of activists in this field and the competitiveness of work increase the quality of the work of Bug bounty activists.
- In traditional penetration testing, the developer must pay a fee before finding the bug, and the test may not be successful. Still, if the experts discover a critical bug in Bug Bounty, they will receive a reward, and the developer will not incur unnecessary costs!
- Due to the broader range of applicants, more bugs will be found, and each expert may catch a different bug than others, but in the pentest, the experts focus on one or two parts of your work.
What are the benefits of Bug bounty?
Although Bug bounty requires payment from the developers, it has many advantages, the most important of which are discussed below:
Reduce costs in the long run
Although hiring a security specialist costs a lot for the company, finding the bug and the site’s vulnerability can prevent higher costs and damages. Also, finding a bug by a white hat hacker and fixing it prevents the harmful penetration of black hat hackers in the future.
Finding skilled professionals
By using experts in this field who work freelance, you can reduce costs, identify talented professionals, and cooperate with them for your benefit.
Reducing injuries
The most crucial advantage of bug bounty programs is finding and fixing dangerous vulnerabilities. This will keep you safe from cybercriminals who can cause you much trouble.
What are the disadvantages of bug bounty?
Despite the many advantages of using the Bug bounty program, there are also disadvantages, so you should be careful in this area and use the best and safest programs. For example, ethically challenged engineers may sell information about bugs to other sources and enemies. Also, having a bounty program will increase the number of attempts to infiltrate your service, and bounty bug programs may turn into dangerous cyber attacks.
Remember, the people hunting your bugs are the people who can break into your site and app, so it is better to communicate well with them. Some people want to find bugs and report them to you. Some may also extort you and plan to disrupt your business.
What are the best bug bounty programs?
If you have an internet business, you are probably looking for a specific bug bounty program for your business. If you are a software expert or a white hat hacker looking to make money from Bug bounties, it is better to know the related programs.
Google and its subsidiaries, including YouTube, include the bounty end bug. The minimum charge for finding flaws in Google content and its subsets is $300, an excellent way to earn $ from BugBounty, Google.
Microsoft
Microsoft’s bug bounty program started in 2014 and is now only active for major and critical issues, which, of course, offer a hefty reward of around $15,000.
Apple
The company first activated Bugbounty for a limited number of people and then increased it. Fortunately, Apple has no limits for finding problems and pays them about 100-200 thousand dollars. Of course, Apple is known for its bug-free system, and it’s hard to find issues with it.
OnePassword
This company specializes in managing passwords on the Internet and is the most secure software in this field. However, OnePassword also offers bug bounty programs. This software is highly complex, and it has set guidelines for finding bugs.
avast
Avast is one of the most famous antivirus companies, requiring security experts’ security tests. For this reason, Avast has also launched a good bug bounty program.
Internet bug
The Internet bug bounty rewards people who find security vulnerabilities in kernel development software that supports the Internet. This program includes various programming languages and server-side software, such as Python. The HackerOne group, backed by companies such as Facebook, GitHub, and Microsoft, evaluates these programs.
Other famous companies, such as Twitter and many other businesses, welcome white hat hackers. So, Bug bounty is an excellent way to earn money.
In what areas is it possible to do bag bunting?
To work as a bounty hunter, you must first choose your field of interest. In general, Bug bounty is divided into two areas: web and software. To start the activity, you must complete the required training in the same area.
bounty Web
One of the most popular areas of a Bug bounty is Bounty Web. To work in the field of bounty Web, you must be familiar with web server programming languages such as PHP, ASP, Node.js, Python, Go, and other web programming languages. To learn about client-side attacks, you should also know some client-side languages, such as JavaScript, XML, and HTML.
bounty software
Another area of bug bundling that you might be interested in working in is software bundling. This field includes penetration testing of Windows, Linux, Macintosh software, and mobile applications like Android and iOS. To work in this field, you must learn reverse engineering and desktop and mobile programming skills, including C++, assembly, Java, Swift, operating system architecture, and data structures.
How to make money from Bugbounty?
You probably became interested in working in this area after hearing about the rewards given in exchange for site problems. Stay with us to learn more about how Bug Bunty works.
Skills you need to start Bug Bunty!
Before working in this area, you should know that Bug Bunty is not as simple as it seems! Working in this field requires skills. A skill like hacking is necessary for Bugbunty; you also need knowledge and experience in software or website development to earn good dollars in Bugbunty. Also, you must first know which area of Bug Bunty you intend to operate; for example, to work in website bug hunting, you must be skilled in web programming. To be active in this field, it is not enough to be proficient in hunting bugs; you must also have a say in exploits.
Networking skills
To work in the bug-bunting field, you must be familiar with the network and infrastructure. Expertise in this field will help improve your performance and, thus, your reputation and income in the area of bug bounty.
Ability to work with Linux
To work in any bug bounty field, one must have the skill to work with Linux because most powerful tools are written for this operating system. You must be able to work with this critical operating system to be more successful in the field of bounty. Do.
Find the right platform!
In addition to skills, you need a platform to take orders from online businesses.
One of the most famous bug bounty platforms is HackerOne, which opened in 2012 and provides cooperation between companies and hackers in exchange for fixing a bug for the company and receiving a reward for the expert. Fortunately, the Hacker One site has added Bitcoin payment to its platform, which is helpful for embargoed countries. Bitcoin payment on this platform is very profitable.
Key points and rules of bounty hunting
For more success in this field, there are tips that you can use to get more income, such as:
- Pay attention to the rules and restrictions of the developer company and the Bug Bunty platform
- Avoid social hacking, phishing, and other activities not part of the BugBunty program.
- Carefully review each bug bounty request and response during the scan and test different modes.
- Be creative in your work!
- The information extracted from the employer’s site or service should be as small as possible; for example, get limited rows when injecting the database.
- Avoid publishing bug reports outside the given platform and ask the developer for permission to post on YouTube, etc.
- If you find a bug, send it for review immediately and avoid extracting extra information. The first finder will receive the reward.
- Note that some bugs are not accepted!
What are the types of bug bounties?
The Bug bounty program is implemented in two types, specialized and general, which we will learn more about in the following.
Public programs
Participation in this type of bug hunt is open to the public, and anyone can hunt bugs. Of course, some companies also limit the history and… But in this section, it is essential to gain experience with your skills so that you may be able to be hired as a specialist or overcome the obstacle of experience limitation with more experience.
Specialized programs
The Bug Bunty Program is a specialized program only available to selected researchers. Only a few researchers can participate, and researchers are invited based on skill level and experience. Of course, most specialized programs become public after a while, but some remain specialized.
So far, we have learned about bug bounty, the skills needed to work in this field, and the types of bounty hunting. If you have the necessary skills and interest in software, you can earn a good income and a dollar through the BugBounty programs we mentioned.
