Bug Bounty Hunter: A Job That Can Earn You a Fortune!

By Testbytes Team · Published November 1st, 2018

Bug Bounty Hunter is a job that requires skill. Finding bugs that have already been found will not yield the bounty hunters.

They must have the eye for finding defects that escaped the eyes or a developer or a normal software tester. Like the name suggests it’s a work that needs so much of time and patience. If they do, the bounty will be big! What do they do? The data/application security wing in big organizations don't have sufficient time or labor to eliminate every bug from the system, so they contact private contractual workers for assistance. Organizations like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and numerous more reward bug bounty hunters for reporting security issues in their system. This reward can be in sort of swags, money, or just compliance. Fundamentally, a bug hunter utilizes his tools to analyze things or break into things, compose a vulnerability report for the organization that has issued the bounty, and hence, get paid for this role.

A few hackers make countless dollars annually as an alternate income simply by hunting the bugs. Also, there’re different terms for this role - Bug Bounty, Responsible Disclosure, Vulnerability Reward Program, all are the equivalent. Thus, in short, a bug bounty is employed by companies for reporting security issues, not for development issues like some content is missing or button isn't working. The majority of the bug bounty has their range noted. How to become a skilled Bug Bounty Hunter? To do it efficiently, you'll have to know some fundamental coding and computer aptitudes. Luckily, we have huge lots of incredible resources to help start off the journey, and coding is really simple to educate yourself. But, in the event that you have no clue what any of this stuff implies as you read on, bug bounty hunting presumably isn't for you. And if you understand these skills wells you can start your journey as a bug bounty hunter in three steps as given below - 1. Start Reading: There are a few must-read books that you can purchase to empower you to learn in the rudiments and basics of bug hunting and penetration testing. Since bug bounties frequently incorporate site targets, we'll center on kicking you off with Web Hacking.

Also Read : What Hackers Know About Vulnerability Disclosures

Here is the list of some of the best books to learn bug bounty -

The Web Application Hacker's Handbook
OWASP Testing Guide v4
The Hacker Playbook 2: Practical Guide to Penetration Testing
The Tangled Web: A Guide to Securing Web Applications
iOS Application Security
The Mobile Application Hacker's Handbook

Also, one must read tech write-ups, reviews and Proof of Concepts (POC) from different hackers. You need to comprehend and read from other people who are doing it as bugs are submitted by write-ups so; they will enable you to learn from the perspective of other bug hunters. In addition, watch tutorials available on YouTube for practical understanding of the task! 2. Practice As it is said, “practice makes the man perfect”.So, along with reading it's further vital to ensure that you are likewise understanding and grasping what you learn by far. Practicing on vulnerable systems and applications is an incredible method to test where your skills stand in the simulated situations. These will also offer you a perception of what you'll be running up in reality. Organizations will frequently have a link anywhere on their site offering bug bounties, however, they can be elusive. You're in an ideal situation checking a bounty board where hackers are reading published vulnerability reports and refreshing a functioning list on the regular basis. Like these:

HackerOne
Vulnerability Lab
Bugcrowd
Fire Bounty

Additionally, join the hacker’s community to learn from the peers who are happily ready to share their skills and knowledge with the budding bug bounty learners. 3. Begin learning about Bug Bounties Practices: So, now you're at the stage where it's nearly time to begin your bounty hunt venture. If you discover a bug, ask constantly yourself: what’s the security influence on the application? You can begin hunting and keep in your mind the notion to “find a bug” or you can begin hunting with the notion of “searching the genuine impact”. The former notion is totally different; the latter notion embraces a bigger perspective. Keep in mind to never ever stop learning. It’s the most important thing about hacking. Be steadfast. And yes, keep practicing as much you can, in fact, never stop practicing. What tools Bug Bounty Hunter use? There are two main tools that a bug hunter could use OWASP Zed Attack Proxy and BurpSuite. OWASP ZAP is an open source. BurpSuite is commercial software that’s really cool and has an enormous fanbase. Both are very extendible that will be a lot easier to use. How much Bug Bounty Hunter earns? A survey conducted by the security biz HackerOne of 1,700 bug bounty hunters from over 195 countries and regions, augmented by the organization's data on 900 bug bounty reports, has affirmed that white-hat hackers make a median salary that's 2.7 times that of standard software engineers in their home nations. Google gave Chrome operating system bug hunters paying them a combined $700,000 in 2012 while Mozilla staked out a $3,000 flat charge for bugs bounty that met its criteria. Facebook has paid out as much as $20,000 for a single bug bounty report and in 2016, Apple declared rewards that go up to $200,000 for a defect in the iOS secure boot firmware elements. Bug bounty hunter's profession is taking off and with that comes tremendous open doors for hackers to earn best prizes for making the internet more secure. Final thoughts… Bug bounty hunting needs the most efficient aptitudes in the majority of the software tasks. It’s difficult, yet it’s amazingly compensating when done precisely. Like code writing, remember that it takes constancy, determination, and a plenty of feedback to be called a successful and proficient bug bounty hunter. One has to think out of the box ideas and do their absolute best. As a Bug hunter you generally gain understanding, learning and your skills take further steps. Look out at bug bounty role in such a manner and keep your inspiration up every day. Thus, when you do bug bounty hunting, being happy is as important as having the right skills! Remember to enjoy your role!