By rewarding ethical hackers for finding weaknesses in a company’s cyber infrastructure, bug bounty programs provide an affordable method of cybersecurity. The literature study emphasizes the programs’ economic justification and their effectiveness in comparison to more conventional security measures. Businesses gain from a proactive approach that enables them to handle security risks before bad actors take advantage of them. But the research also highlights issues including irregular payments, unclear legal status, and moral dilemmas, such as the potential for hackers to hoard exploits to profit more (Sridhar & Ng, 2021). Bug bounty schemes continue to be a useful instrument in the field of cybersecurity despite these disadvantages.

The findings discussed support the notion that clear participation criteria, transparent reward systems, and well-structured policies are essential to the success of these initiatives. Businesses that don’t have these components run the danger of deterring knowledgeable ethical hackers or, worse, drawing in bad actors who take advantage of weaknesses. Additionally, the study emphasizes that although bug bounty programs are successful, they have to be used in conjunction with conventional cybersecurity measures rather than in place of them (Sridhar & Ng, 2021). Maintaining strong internal security teams and utilizing outside expertise must be balanced by organizations. Bug bounty programs are a prime example of how economic theory and cybersecurity tactics interact, supporting cost-benefit analyses to strengthen digital defenses. However, careful application is necessary for them to be effective. In the absence of openness, equitable remuneration, and moral supervision, these initiatives may increase dangers rather than lessen them. The results highlight the necessity of a multidisciplinary strategy that combines social science frameworks with cybersecurity to guarantee that policies are not only technically sound but also morally and socially responsible (Sridhar & Ng, 2021).

Reference

Kiran Sridhar, Ming Ng, Hacking for good: Leveraging HackerOne data to develop an economic model of Bug Bounties, Journal of Cybersecurity, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2021, tyab007,