Crypto Bug Bounties: Data Shows White Hackers Earned $878,000 in 2018

In a year that has been characterized by notable hacks and security breaches that resulted in the loss of millions of dollar worth of crypto assets to the activities of black hat hackers, white hat hackers have been reportedly awarded $878,000 in bug bounties this year. This was made known by technology-based news website TheNextWeb who have been following the security trend in the crypto space.

For those who aren’t familiar with the term “Bug bounties,” this is a kind of competition where companies who develop software invite hackers to breach their database in an effort to find vulnerabilities so they can fix them before they are exploited by other hackers who will use them to their advantage.

Speaking on its finding, TheNextWeb remarked that, hackers were able to earn a whopping $534,500 on HackerOne, a bug bounty platform that connects software companies with hackers just from Block.one, the company which stands behind EOS. As a matter of fact, Block.one is said to be responsible for 60 percent of the majority of the bounties handed in this year.

According to report, Coinbase is the second largest bounty spender in 2018. Facts released showed that Coinbase spent approximately $290,381 this year. Tron, another major cryptocurrency was reported to have spent $76,200 on bug bounty this year.

Per the report, a HackerOne spokesperson told TheNextWeb that majority of the bounties awarded on its platform this year were for blockchain vulnerabilities. The average prize for bounty awards in the blockchain industry was pegged at $1,490, while the average HackerOne bounty in Q4 2018 was about $900.

Notably, reports available showed that EOS decentralized apps (DApps) have lost over $1 million in hacks since July this year. More so, hardware wallet Ledger expressed its dissatisfaction after security researchers disclosed vulnerabilities in its hardware wallet without following due processs.