What Hackers Want More Than Cash When They Report Bugs
It’s more important for most internet security researchers that companies stay in regular contact with them about fixing the hackable vulnerabilities they find in software systems than the companies pay them for the bug reports, a federal agency reported Thursday.
Only about one-fifth of internet security researchers, known as white-hat hackers, expect payment in exchange for discovering software vulnerabilities, according to the survey conducted by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
By contrast, 70 percent of white hats expect regular updates about how a company is fixing a vulnerability and 57 percent want to be able to test the vulnerability to ensure it’s properly patched.
