Date Created: 07/21/2024
Topic: Cybersecurity Policies
The article provides a comprehensive analysis of how bug bounty programs and vulnerability disclosure policies (VDPs) can significantly enhance a company’s cybersecurity posture by engaging freelance security researchers, also known as ethical hackers.
The literature review elaborates on two primary rationales for these programs: addressing the severe shortage of cybersecurity professionals worldwide and adhering to Linus’s Law, which posits that diverse perspectives help uncover vulnerabilities that an internal team may overlook. Metrics such as program age, industry effects, brand profile, and bounty amounts, among others, are evaluated to understand how they influence the quantity and quality of vulnerability reports received by companies.
The study reveals several significant findings. One of the crucial insights is that hackers are relatively price insensitive. This means smaller companies with fewer resources can still benefit from bug bounty programs, as ethical hackers are not solely driven by monetary rewards but also by non-monetary factors like reputation and experience.
Additionally, the article finds that a company’s size and profile do not significantly impact the number of reports it receives. This is good news for smaller and lesser-known entities, democratizing access to cybersecurity talent. The study also identifies industry-specific effects, noting that finance, retail, and healthcare sectors receive fewer vulnerability reports, possibly because vulnerabilities in these industries can be easily monetized illicitly, deterring ethical hackers from reporting them.
However, the research also acknowledges the limitations and gaps that remain in the current understanding of bug bounty programs. While the methodology is robust in addressing endogeneity issues, variables like scope and bug severity remain unmeasured, leaving some unexplained variations in the data. In conclusion, the article emphasizes the significant role bug bounty programs play in modern cybersecurity while highlighting the need for further research to refine understanding and improve these programs’ effectiveness, particularly as they become more ubiquitous in various industries.
Sources
Kiran Sridhar & Ming Ng. (2021). Hacking for good: Leveraging HackerOne data to develop an economic model of Bug Bounties.https://academic.oup.com/cybersecurity/article/7/1/tyab007/6168453?login=true