Hello cyber practitioners! It's been a bit quiet over the last 24 hours, so it'll be a short post today, focusing on the evolving landscape of bug bounty programmes and the motivations driving security researchers.
Bug Bounty Programmes: The Good, The Bad, and The AI 🛡️
- Bug bounty programmes, pioneered by Netscape 30 years ago, have evolved significantly, with large organisations often benefiting from in-house schemes for sensitive bugs, talent acquisition, and robust triage capabilities. Smaller companies or those less security-focused often find commercial platforms like HackerOne or Bugcrowd more suitable, leveraging a broad global talent pool.
- Researcher motivations are diverse, extending beyond just financial gain to include recognition, access to exclusive communities, and a genuine desire to improve security. While significant payouts exist for critical vulnerabilities, some researchers find consistent income by automating the discovery of numerous low-to-medium severity flaws.
- The rise of AI is a double-edged sword for bug bounties: it's generating a lot of "AI slop" – low-quality, machine-generated reports that burden triage teams – but it's also empowering skilled hunters with automation tools to scale their search for vulnerabilities.
🕵🏼 The Register | https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/08/24/bug_bounty_advice/
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