In today’s rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape, security professionals are constantly challenged to stay ahead of emerging threats. Attack surfaces are expanding, resources are scarce, and traditional security measures are often insufficient. How can organizations effectively address these challenges and ensure robust security postures? The answer lies in harnessing the power of crowdsourced security.

We are excited to announce the launch of a new guide, Bugcrowd’s guide to working with hackers. This comprehensive guide provides insights into leveraging the expertise of the security research community to augment your security strategies. It delves into understanding hacker motivations, methodologies, and how to effectively engage them to solve critical security challenges.

Whether you’re a long-time customer or new to crowdsourced security, understanding hackers is a key part of maximizing your investment in a bug bounty engagement or VDP. By working with hackers, customers find critical vulnerabilities before threat actors do. But we understand, working with hackers can feel a little intimidating at first. So in this guide, we broke down:

• How hackers are vetted and why you can trust them
• How to appeal to different types of hackers
• Tips to improve your engagements and attract more hackers
• Benchmarking tools to measure hacker engagement
• Ways that Bugcrowd fosters better hacker relationships

Here is a preview of what to expect from this guide. 

Understanding hacker motivations and methodologies

A key aspect of effectively working with hackers is understanding what drives them. The guide to working with hackers explores the diverse motivations that fuel ethical hackers, including both intrinsic and extrinsic factors.

Intrinsic motivators include:

• Tinkering, puzzling, and learning: Many hackers are driven by the intellectual challenge of solving complex problems and continuously expanding their skills.
• The greater good: A significant number of hackers are motivated by a desire to make the internet a safer place and protect organizations from malicious actors.

Extrinsic motivators include:

• Fame and reputation: Recognition within the hacker community, such as Hall of Fame listings and speaking opportunities, plays a crucial role.
• Financial compensation: For some, the pursuit of financial stability and rewards for their skills is a strong driver.

In addition to motivations, the guide categorizes hackers by their methodologies. Understanding these different approaches can help organizations tailor their engagements and maximize results. The five key methodologies discussed are:

• The Beginner: Researchers new to crowdsourced security who provide comprehensive coverage of common security issues.
• The Recon Hacker: Experts in identifying issues across broad attack surfaces using automated tools and techniques.
• The Deep Diver: Hackers who focus on specific programs, uncovering sophisticated vulnerabilities through in-depth knowledge.
• The Generalist: Versatile individuals who blend recon and deep-diving tactics, maintaining balanced toolkits.
• The Specialist: Experts with deep knowledge of specific technologies or vulnerability types, such as AI security or hardware vulnerabilities.

How to effectively engage hackers

The guide provides practical tips for creating compelling engagements that attract and retain top hacker talent. Some of these recommendations include:

• Establishing safe harbor: Implementing a policy that allows hackers to provide security feedback without fear of legal repercussions.
• Offering broad scope: Providing a wide and well-communicated scope for testing to allow specialists to engage directly.
• Enabling coordinated disclosure: Encouraging transparency and allowing hackers to share their techniques after issues have been remediated.
• Providing competitive rewards: Offering reward ranges that are competitive within the industry to attract top talent.

The guide also addresses how Bugcrowd matches the right hackers to specific programs using its AI-powered CrowdMatch technology. This system ensures that organizations are connected with hackers who have the appropriate skills, experience, and motivations for their needs.

Maximizing engagement effectiveness

To further enhance the effectiveness of hacker engagements, the guide offers insights into several critical areas:

• Choosing the right scope: Recommending wider scopes to uncover hidden vulnerabilities and mimic real-world attack scenarios.
• Setting the right rewards: Providing a reward recommendation framework based on vulnerability types and security levels.
• Creating an enticing project brief: Outlining the key elements of a clear and compelling brief that attracts hacker interest.
• Triaging effectively: Emphasizing the importance of quick and clear bug triage to provide feedback to hackers and facilitate remediation.

The guide also includes metrics for measuring engagement success, such as rewards given, critical reports accepted, hacker consistency, hacker variety, and processing queue volume. These metrics help organizations track progress and ensure they are achieving their security goals.

Building strong hacker relationships

Bugcrowd is committed to fostering strong relationships with its hacker community. The guide highlights various initiatives, such as live hacking events, the Hacker Advisory Board, and educational resources like LevelUp, that help hackers develop their skills and connect with others. By investing in the collective hacker community, Bugcrowd ensures that its customers have access to the best and brightest talent.

Read it, study it, bookmark it

The guide to working with hackers is an essential resource meant to help customers and those interested in working with hackers maximize their investment in crowdsourced security testing. Use it as an educational tool and a roadmap—but keep in mind that you don’t have to embark on your crowdsourcing journey alone! Our customer success team works in lockstep with all of our program owners to advise you on best practices to maximize your investment and attract top hacker talent.