For now, only those with invitation can join the new bug bounty program.
Hacking competitions are held globally in order to find vulnerabilities in companies through different formats. However, in the latest, the third iteration of the Hack the Army program has been launched by HackerOne and the Defense Digital Service (DDS) which will be solely aimed at finding flaws in the US Army’s digital systems.
Being the 11th instance of collaboration between HackerOne and DDS, the competition will run from this past Wednesday – the 6th of January to the 17th of February next month.
This will help the army find vulnerabilities more quickly than they otherwise would through regular penetration testing and also offer the cybersecurity professionals involved a handsome incentive to help them do so.
However, only those can participate who have been invited to do so both from civilians and the army itself. This may be to prevent any flaws from getting into the wrong hands.
See: 17-years-old kid hacks US air force for the good
Commenting on the competition, the cyber-command director of operations for the US Army stated:
Bug bounty programs are a unique and effective ‘force multiplier’ for safeguarding critical Army networks, systems and data, and build on the efforts of our Army and DoD security professionals.
By crowdsourcing solutions with the help of the world’s best military and civilian ethical hackers, we complement our existing security measures and provide an additional means to identify and fix vulnerabilities. Hack the Army 3.0 builds upon the successes and lessons of our prior bug bounty programs.
See: DoD’s Largest Bug Bounty Program “Hack the Air Force” Launched
To conclude, militaries and other federal agencies throughout the world should use this as an example to conduct similar programs in their home countries. After all, every country is home to professionals who can help government departments step up their security in an exciting way like this.
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