This month the US government is launching its first-ever bug bounty programme – a 20-day scheme for cybersecurity savvy citizens to have a go at finding flaws in the Department of Defense’s public websites before the illegal hackers do.  There is a $150,000 (£106,000) pot for rewarding the finders of significant bugs.

Source: BBC Technology

Date: April 21st, 2016

Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35971380

Discussion

1) Why pay a bounty to unofficial bug hunters when you could pay a cybersecurity consultant to focus solely on bug hunting?

2) Does this program basically give a free pass to hacking government systems?