What to Expect from a Bug Bounty Program in Your Company?

With so many businesses migrating to the digital world in recent years, concerns about information security have become increasingly prevalent. As digital presence grows, so do the risks of system failures and potential data breaches. In this context, Bug Bounty programs have become a hot topic.

Data-driven businesses are becoming more common and are growing rapidly. However, this progress brings some not-so-positive consequences, such as the rise of cybercrime and more skilled and prepared cybercriminals.

According to data from the Coordination of Statistics and Criminal Analysis (CEACrim), there was a 265% increase in cybercrimes in the state of São Paulo alone in 2020.

But how can a Bug Bounty program help your company avoid being part of this statistic? Keep reading to learn what to expect from this technology.

What is a Bug Bounty Program?

In summary, a Bug Bounty program is a “reward hunters” initiative focused on cybersecurity. A community of ethical hackers is mobilized to discover vulnerabilities within a website, application, or platform.

For each vulnerability or security flaw discovered, the specialists receive a reward.

In other words, a Bug Bounty program allows the partner company to identify its weaknesses within the technological environment and reduce the risks of breaches and data leaks. This substantially mitigates the impact of cybercriminals on the business and its customers.

Opting for a Bug Bounty program is a preventive measure and a way for the company to make more informed investments and choices in system and data protection.

Why Does Your Company Need a Bug Bounty Program?

The growing number of categories of cybercrimes that have emerged over the years of technological advancement is not always recognized by companies.

A common mistake among entrepreneurs is believing that the costs of these invasions and their consequences will be easy to overcome.

Investing in a Bug Bounty program is a way to detect configuration and software errors that often go unnoticed by developers or even the company’s security team. If not identified, these errors can lead to severe problems, such as data breaches and theft of company and customer information.

Bug Bounty Program vs. Pentest and Red Team

A Bug Bounty program is a valuable resource for companies because, unlike traditional pentest (penetration testing) services, it offers continuous vulnerability searching with a team of various specialists who think differently and stay updated with the latest in cybersecurity.

Pentests have been the standard method for a long time. They involve simulating attacks to discover exposure areas.

Another method for vulnerability detection is the use of Red Teams, which have gained prominence as an additional protective measure.

Red Team professionals recognize the main threats and use their skills to conduct controlled attacks, aiming to uncover and help eliminate major vulnerabilities. This type of service involves the insight of an ethical hacker who understands the tactics of cybercriminals.

An interesting approach is to use Red Teams in conjunction with a Bug Bounty program. This way, two teams work together for greater attack prevention and company protection.

How Does a Bug Bounty Program Work?

It's essential to understand how a Bug Bounty program operates before setting expectations. To utilize this resource for cybersecurity, you first need to define a scope, policy, rules of the program, and reward budget.

Once the policy and scope are defined, the program is published, and hunters can find it and start searching for potential vulnerabilities in the system.

When a bug or bugs are found, the hunter submits a report detailing the vulnerabilities, steps to reproduce them, their impact on the company’s system, and their severity level.

After these processes, the partner company receives the report, evaluates the vulnerability within the agreed scope, and accepts or rejects the flaw. If accepted, the reward is paid.

It's important to note that a managed Bug Bounty program offers support for all these steps, helping to select the best specialists for the search, reviewing and screening reports, and delivering them to the company’s team for validation.

BugHunt’s Bug Bounty Program

Another challenge is knowing how to implement a Bug Bounty program within a company. If you have any doubts, contact our team; we are ready to assist you.

BugHunt is a company that offers a formal Bug Bounty program, where ethical hackers search for vulnerabilities in partner companies, earning financial recognition or other rewards for their discoveries.

When registering with BugHunt, professionals sign the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, committing to follow the rules of each program they participate in, as well as to the confidentiality of accessed data. To ensure effective work, specialists undergo a preliminary screening (background check) by BugHunt.

Additionally, BugHunt offers Public Programs, where you can open your program to our entire community of bug hunters and maximize your results, or Private Programs, where your program is accessible only to experts invited by you or the company.

Interested in implementing a Bug Bounty program to improve your company’s security? Click here!