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Bug Bounty Myths

Despite the fact that bug bounty program adaptation continues on a steady rise and ROI has been clearly shown, perceived myths regarding bug bounty programs still remain in the IT industry. The following examples are some of these misconceptions;

1. All bug bounties are ‘public’.

Where public bug bounty programs are open to all researchers, private bounty programs are limited to trusted researchers while giving organizations the power to control what is tested and how it’s tested. Thus, today the majority of bug bounty programs are private and they operate mainly on “invite only” basis. Moreover, private bug bounty programs allow organizations to harness the power of the crowd regarding the volume of testers, the diversity of skills and perspectives, and the competitive environment in a more controlled and stringent environment.

2. Bug bounties are only run by tech companies.

The bug bounty programs have evolved to be effective, and flexible for organizations of virtually any size or type. Private and public bug bounty programs provide an opportunity for every type of organization to protect the cyber security field of their organization. Beyond just public programs, private programs also have been instrumental in the broader adoption of the bug bounty model. They have allowed a wider range of organizations to utilize the bug bounty model for various reasons such as focus testing more narrowly based on specific skill sets, limit exposure to personally identifiable information, and test applications that are not publicly accessible. For an example more traditional organizations such as financial services companies or government organizations opt to engage a private crowd to limit exposure to personally identifiable information.

3. Running a bounty program is too risky.

This is one of the major misconceptions in the society regarding bug bounty programs. Implementing a bug bounty program with a trusted partner will reduce the potential risks because of all community members in that particular platform, are bound to follow a set of rules and guidelines which describe acceptable and unacceptable behaviors which are relevant to bug bounty programs. Similarly, in our Bug Zero platform, we have our own privacy policies, standard disclosure terms which every hacker must accept during their sign-in process to our site and we have the legal right to take action regarding the hackers for not complying with these standard disclosure terms and privacy policies.

4. You can’t trust hackers.

Bug hunters are ambitious, and always looking to expand their knowledge and build their skill set through the challenge. With the right guidelines and incentives, we can direct the hackers to find the exact vulnerabilities to help organizations. Furthermore, the bug bounty community consists of a bunch of global group of people who come from diverse backgrounds, technical skills and expertise. This helps to increase the success rate of a bug bounty concept.

5. They’re too costly and hard to budget for.

Even after needing to join the bug bounties, some companies are hesitant due to this misconception. As an organization, you can always manage your bug bounty budget within your limits. There are many things as an organization you can do to optimize the success of your bug bounty program and minimize the cost.

  • Articulate what you want to be tested by defining a clear and thorough scope, focus areas and exclusions.
  • Decide how you want to run your program, whether as private or public, continuous or time-boxed.
  • Determine your rewards program throughout the lifetime of the bounty program based on the vulnerability maturity and the submission priority.

As a trusted end to end support party for bug bounty programs, we, Bug Zero team, are always ready to help your organization to manage your budget from start to finish with the best recommendations for your organizational needs.

6. Bug bounties are hard to run and manage.

Running a bug bounty program as a single organization may be difficult due to an organization hardly having the time or the resources to validate incoming vulnerability findings from the outside researchers. However, with a trusted partner, an organization can manage the bug bounty programs in an easy, efficient and effective manner. We have recognized this as a major concern and are committed to providing our registered customer organizations with full-scale bug bounty support and services from start to finish of the bounty program.