Buglab is Reshaping Cyber Security

There have been recent upsurges in the spate of cyber attacks both in the cryptocurrency space and businesses. These attacks have caused companies to lose huge sums of money and valuable data that could be used to expand their operations to black-hat hackers who seek to exploit vulnerabilities in the companies' technologies. Infact, it has been reported that 1.9 billion data records were lost to cyberattacks in the first half of 2017, surpassing the total figure of 2016 which was 1.37 billion ^[1]. While the number of data breaches have been reduced as companies try to combat the trend, the hackers have developed sophisticated skills that are superior to the security measures the companies have put in place such that the attacks are undetected.

One cannot forget in a hurry how the famous Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange was hacked in March 2014, with about $460 million worth of Bitcoin stolen from the exchange ^[2]. There have also been attacks on several cryptocurrency exchanges in recent years, causing customers to lose faith in the amazing technology and therefore withdrawing their assets ^[3].

As companies fight to protect their customers and save their business, they spend huge sums of money on cybersecurity, thereby driving some companies to close down. Small enterprises typically lack the resources and the financial means to tackle these cybersecurity attacks and may become extremely vulnerable. These are the realities companies have to prepare for and face.

There have been many attempts companies have made to tackle these challenges by encrypting data and ensuring that their hardware is secured. But these have usually failed to hit their targets as hackers come in myriads of ways unexpected by the companies. There is a need for a cost-effective and pragmatic approach in dealing

The Solution

A quote from the Entrepreneur website says that,

"Properly protecting your company from a cyber-attack starts with a well-rounded understanding of the internal and external vulnerabilities your business faces when it comes to a hacker. You’ll want to have a finger on the ways in which a hacker can gain entry to your system by identifying points of weakness. The best way to do this is by getting informed about the various cyber fraud schemes and threats -- phishing, malware and system hacking -- that businesses face." ^[4].

It is this solution that Buglab provides. Buglab is providing penetration testing services for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) to help them identify critical security issues in their systems, whether websites, business and mobile applications, internet of things (IoT) devices, etc. They also help them to mitigate these issues. In this case, even the smallest businesses are equipped with the right tools and skills to protect themselves from hackers.

Buglab creates the platform for startup and companies to connect with various experienced and certified cybersecurity professionals in which they are rewarded for identifying unique bugs and vulnerabilities through competitions. In this case, the penetration testers compete with one another to try to solve the problem in as little time as possible, while being ranked in a leaderboard. These testers are then rewarded by Buglab tokens (BGLs) via smart contracts according to the severity of the findings and their potential impacts on the business.

In the next article, I'll share how companies how the Buglab platform works and how they can utilize the core features of the platform to guard against black-hat hackers.

To get more information about the platform, check out their website, ANN Thread or join their Telegram group

You can check out my profile on BitcoinTalk Forum.