Do you remember the first code you’ve written (probably, the Hello World program) and how many errors you made in that basic program? Maybe a lot – whether it be syntax errors, runtime errors, or any other (No worries, it’s the sign of great coders!). Indeed a bug in the source code is a nightmare for any programmer but it is also true that without these bugs & errors, the journey of a programmer is incomplete. Even programmers love to debug the code as it not only makes them proficient with that program but they also get to learn and explore new things as well. And keeping this in mind, various companies offer Bug Bounty Programs that challenge you to find the bugs in their systems. And yes, it can earn you some money as well!
What Is a Bug Bounty Program?
Now, you must be curious to know about these Bug Bounty Programs. A Bug Bounty Program is a kind of open deal between the companies and the developers (especially white hat hackers) to find certain bugs, security exploits, and other vulnerabilities in the organization’s system or product. In case, if an individual can find these bugs in their system, he is expected to report it to the company on behalf of which the company rewards the person with appreciation and a certain amount dedicated to the particular bugs.
So basically it is a win-win situation for both – the company and the hacker. Apart from the monetary benefits, there are several other benefits too to taking part in Bug Bounty Programs, some of these are mentioned below:
- It allows you to analyze your knowledge and skills in the practical world.
- Winning a Bug Bounty Program not only offers you money, but you can get a chance to join the company as a full-time employee as well.
- Also, it is completely legal and ethical so there is no need to worry about the legal aspects.
For the last few years, Bug Bounty Programs have seen a rapid popularity growth rate and nowadays, almost every leading company such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. offers these programs. As it is not only rewarding the skills of the white hat hackers but it is also making the company’s system more secure and bug-free. Here in this article, let’s take a look at such best 5 Bug Bounty Programs in detail.
15 Best Bug Bounty Programs/Companies
1. Google Vulnerability Reward Program
Alike in other fields, Google is one of the most popular companies when it comes to Bug Bounty Program. And with the same concern, it offers a Google Vulnerability Reward Program (VRP) for all white hat hackers. Google offers this program for its content belonging to any of these domains – .google. com, .youtube.com, and .blogger.com. Also, the bugs in Google Cloud Platform and its developed applications or extensions also fall under this program. The program majorly covers design and implementation issues such as server-side code execution bugs, cross-site scripting, etc. that work against the security of user data. The reward money for qualifying the bugs issue range from $100 – $31,337 based on the impact of the reported issue. However, to win the rewarded amount, you need to identify a valid bug or vulnerability as per the company’s guidelines such as reported issues related to URL redirection, user enumeration, legitimate content proxying, and framing. etc, do not earn you a monetary reward (or even, may not qualify).
2. Facebook Bug Bounty Program
Facebook is also one of the top IT giants that welcome & reward hackers or developers who believe that they can suspect any vulnerability or bug in the company’s system. Facebook offers this bug bounty program for the following products – Facebook, FBLite, Instagram, WhatsApp, Open-Source Projects, and other acquired products.
However, third-party apps or sites that are not owned by Facebook, do not fall under this program. Although the vulnerability in the third-party systems that are integrated with Facebook and have a potential impact on Facebook user data or systems can be considered applicable for the program.
The reward money for the Facebook Bug Bounty Program starts from $500 and the amount increases based on the impact and risk of exploitation due to the reported bug. Moreover, you have to remember that the detected bug must not be out of scope such as Denial-of-service attack, spamming or social engineering techniques, etc., and against the program’s guidelines.
3. Microsoft Bug Bounty Program
Over the years Microsoft has introduced various Bug Bounty Programs for its huge range of products and systems. The program allows the developers to identify and report the bugs or vulnerabilities in Microsoft products and services to get rewarded money and appreciation from the organization. The programs are classified in majorly 3 segments – Microsoft Cloud Programs (Microsoft Azure, Xbox, etc), Platform Programs (Microsoft Hyper-V, Microsoft Edge, etc.), and the Defense & Grant Programs (Mitigation Bypass and Bounty for Defense, Grant: Microsoft Identity).
Microsoft offers bounties based on the product and the issue reported. Each product has its own range of rewarded money such as there is a top reward of up to $300,000 on the vulnerability reported on Microsoft Azure cloud services, up to $30, 000 on issues reported in Windows Insider Preview, and various others. Also, you need to report a vulnerability along with its functioning exploit, failing which you’ll be rewarded with a partial bounty.
4. Apple Bug Bounty Program
Initially, Apple’s bug bounty program was introduced only for 24 security researchers but after the expansion of the framework, the need for additional bug detectors increased. The company’s bug bounty program is concerned with the detection of vulnerabilities in the latest publicly available versions of iOS, iPad OS, tvOS, macOS, or watchOS with a standard outline.
Apart from the published bounty categories by the company, if you find any other vulnerability having a consequential impact then it will fall under the bounty program. The reward money for the Apple bug bounty program depends upon the vulnerability level of the reported issue.
However, a maximum amount is fixed for almost every issue such as $100,000 for unauthorized access to iCloud account data on Apple Servers, $250,000 for user data extraction, $100,000 for lock screen bypassing, and various others. Also, if you report issues that are unknown to the company yet can earn you a 50% additional bounty.
5. Intel Bug Bounty Program
Intel Corporation firmly believes that security is the primary aspect to look out for any organization and for the same reason it offers a Bug Bounty Program to encourage researchers to detect any bugs or vulnerabilities in their products or system. Intel Bug Bounty Program majorly concerns with the company’s hardware (Microprocessors, Field Programmable Gate Array components, etc.), firmware (UEFI BIOS, Intel Compute Stick, NUC, etc.), and software segments (Device drivers, Development tools, etc.).
However, if the reported issues or vulnerabilities belong to the product versions that are no longer under active support or already known to Intel or any similar cases, they will be considered ineligible for the program. The reward money for the Intel Bug Bounty Program ranges from $500-$100,000 based on the nature and risk level of the reported issue. Intel manages the payment process for the Bug Bounty Program through the HackerOne platform.
Apart from the financial reward, the organization also publicly recognizes the researcher at the time of the public revelation of the reported issue. Now, as you see that almost every organization is challenging you to find at least a single bug in their system then what are you waiting for? Just gather your arsenal of tools, dive into the battle and showcase all you’re learning & skills!!
6. Netflix Bug Bounty Program
Netflix’s primary goal is to entertain people around the world for which its security works day and night to keep its interface secure. They stay engaged with the security community and are responsible for the disclosure and keeping a check on the bugs. Along with them, the company also stays in contact with the private bug bounty for a few years in order to keep their interface safe. They work by improving the security of the products while strengthening the relationship with the whole community.
While doing research the bug bounty members have to follow a few rules, including they can only collect necessary information and not see or use the personal information of any existing member, cannot degrade Netflix user experience, destroy data while security testing, disrupt production system, etc.
If all these requirements are fulfilled, Netflix works with you to fix the bug and helps in resolving the issue. If someone reports any issue before anyone else then, they are also added to the list of the Security Researcher Hall of Fame. They are also paid for researching the unique vulnerabilities, and the amount can vary from $200-$20000. But in order to get the reward you should have done rich-vulnerability submissions most probably the ones that have been listed in the targets by the company.
7. Tesla Bug Bounty Program
We all know that Tesla is a company that regularly keeps on innovating new technologies and wants its customers to be updated. They always try to improve their security and services, along with that they also stay connected with their bug bounty members and encourage them to find out any vulnerabilities which are hidden by the company or its staff. They use Bugcrowd as a platform where they entertain all the issues reported in their vehicle.
However, you must follow a few guidelines before reporting any bug, including do not modify any data, giving the company reasonable time to correct the mistake, making a good effort in order to avoid the destruction of data, interruption of services, avoiding any privacy violation, etc. People are also paid by the company for pointing out any vulnerability and once the approval is done you can get amounts from $100- $15000.
8. Uber Bug Bounty Program
The bug bounty program of Uber includes all the assets. The company majorly focuses on protecting the data of its users as well as employees. They keep on trying new ways for securing data and is a very high-paying program In recent years people have earned a lot with Uber bug bounty program and if you want to resolve any issue and want to gain some knowledge then go through older projects to clear the complete theory in your mind. The company pays a maximum payout of $10,000 for finding critical bug issues.
9. Snapchat Bug Bounty Program
Snapchat is one of the most used applications and is loved by all but the application also runs a bug bounty program where they want to foster new relationships with customers all around the world. The security team at Snapchat works really hard to keep the data of their users intact and acts upon each bug responsibly hence, provides a proper disclosure. But if you want to point out any bug there these are the steps that are needed to be followed.
- If you see a specific issue, be the first one to report it
- Make a proper descriptive report including screenshots and proofs,
- A bug report has to submit in Snapchat responsibly and not to others
The companies pay well starting from $4000 to $35,000 according to the severity of the issue. They study the case accordingly and then proceed further will the payment method.
10. Samsung Bug Bounty Program
The company takes privacy and security issues very seriously and appreciates people who keep on reporting the bugs for them. The company also keeps on offering reward programs for eligible candidates. Bugs can be reported directly using the company’s official website and also a decent amount of up to $2,00,000. In order to resort bugs for Samsung, you need to follow a few rules, for example,
- Firstly the bug must be applicable to eligible Samsung mobiles (including tables, smartphones and wearable)
- The mobile must be active at the time of reporting the bug
- All the applications present on the phones must be up to date.
11. Shopify Bug Bounty
One of the most popular eCommerce platforms, Shopify’s bug bounty program is famous among people. The company keeps of rewarding numerous security researchers for finding the vulnerabilities in the present system. The company works in accordance with the researchers and treats them best as their peers. Shopify keeps encouraging researchers to sign up for the bug bounty programs by providing them with numerous features including creating shops and private Shopify applications for checking the guidelines of the entire program. There are different kinds of issues and vulnerabilities and one can earn up to $50,000 depending on the severity of the problems.
12. Alibaba Bug Bounty Program
Alibaba’s bug bounty program is a platform where the company looks forward to working with a security community in order to find vulnerabilities for keeping the customer’s business safe. As we all know that Alibaba is a Chinese company has a wide range of businesses running all around the world, hence the company goes through many issues regularly. Therefore, for resolving such issues the company works with researchers and has divided the company into 2 levels, Core business, and Normal business. Doing that also divides their rewards into 2 parts, for example, the core business issues will get first-line rewards and the normal business will get second-line rewards. The highest reward for level one can go up to $2500 and for level 2 the reward can go up to $1000.
13. Airbnb Bug Bounty Program
World’s one of the most trusted communities, Airbnb’s bug bounty program is quite important for the company itself and if you believe you have that potential and work on the vulnerabilities then you are surely welcome. Airbnb has a designated community where the company first opened its vulnerabilities, before opening them directly to the public. The only thing one has to do is provide a detailed description of the issue and all the steps that you think would be required to resolve the problem. Airbnb offers decent rewards of up to $15,000 and keeps on encouraging hackers to work on new vulnerabilities by offering them a bonus hike of 50%.
14. Xiaomi Bug Bounty Program
Xiaomi is one of the most famous companies which sells mobile phones, and its bug bounty program covers special services for researchers. The company works in accordance with the researchers and has till now resolved around 734 reports. The company introduced 2 research programs in 2021- Special Breakthrough Contribution Rewards and Monthly Xiaomi Hacker Leaderboard Reward, in both the issues, are assessed on the basis of complexity, the extent of impact, and the novelty of vulnerability. For the researchers, there are many special rewards including $8000 prize reward.
15. Nintendo Bug Bounty Program
Nintendo is a Japanese multinational video game company that tends to provide a safe and secure environment for its customers so they can enjoy the games without any interruptions. For achieving that goal the company is always interested in discovering numerous researchers who may discover further issues running in the background. There are many programs that the company is focused on preventing, such as game application dumping, copied game application execution, Dissemination of inappropriate content to children, save data modification, game application modification, etc. The company gives rewards to the one who reports first place ranging from $100 USD to $20,000 USD.
Conclusion
Hence, these were a few of the bug bounty programs that can be considered by hackers who want to play around with ethical hacking. Taking part in such programs makes a proper ground for you to be placed in any company, hence, paying a good amount. Hence, if you are an independent researcher you can opt for one and work accordingly.
FAQ’s
1. What software is used for bug bounty?
There is no specific software used for bug bounty programs. Bug bounty programs are typically run by companies or organizations to incentivize security researchers to find and report security vulnerabilities in their software, websites, or systems. Bug bounty platforms, such as HackerOne, Bugcrowd, and Synack, are commonly used by companies to manage their bug bounty programs. These platforms provide a centralized system for companies to receive and manage bug reports, track the progress of the bug bounty program, and reward security researchers for their findings.
2. Which is the Best bug bounty program?
These are a few bug bounty programs:
- Bugcrowd.
- YesWeHack.
- Open Bug Bounty.
- Apple Security Bounty, developer.apple.com.
- Microsoft Bug Bounty Program, Microsoft.
- Google Bug Hunters, Google.
3. What should I study for bug bounty?
Although one needs to be a pro in the computer networking domain to start bug bounty, you should be proficient in a few fundamentals such as IP addresses, OSI Stack, MAC address, inter-networking, etc.
4. What is the highest bug bounty ever paid?
An individual known as gzobqq received a reward of $605,000 for reporting a series of five bugs (CVE-2022-20427, CVE-2022-20428, CVE-2022-20454, CVE-2022-20459, CVE-2022-20460) in Android that could be exploited together. This is currently the highest payout for a bug bounty program.
