White-Hat Crypto Hackers Ranked Up $32,150 in Rewards in 7 Weeks

Are you a malicious hacker looking for a path to redemption? It turns out that you can get paid for using your sweet skills to save the world--so-called ”white-hat” hackers have managed to rack up $32,150 in profits by identifying and fixing security flaws in popular crypto networks and services in the last seven weeks alone.

Hard Fork reported yesterday that at least 15 Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Read this Term-related companies (including Coinbase, TRON, Brave, Augur, Omise, and EOS) distributed financial rewards to these white-hat hackers working through HackerOne, a bug bounty platform, between March 28th and May 16th.

Omise reportedly paid out rewards for the most fixes (6) over this period. Augur and Brave came in second place with three bounties paid each.

Many of the rewards are for small amounts--the majority of Omise’s Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term, for example, were for around $100 each. But some of the rewards can be quite large--both the Aeternity Network and Block.One (the company behind the EOS network) distributed a reward of $10,000 to a hacker for a single bug.

TRON paid out a $3100 award to the hacker who found that the network was vulnerable to being bombarded with malicious smart contracts, a flaw that could have completed dammed transactions on its blockchain.

For a Hacker Trying to Make a Profit, It’s Good to Be Bad

Off of the platform, white-hat hackers can be a little less ethical. In some situations, the bounty paid on each bug found is determined by the hacker who finds it; sometimes, hackers who find bugs will hold the findings hostage in exchange for a ransom; if the company doesn’t pay up, the hacker may reveal the bug to the world.

And of course, other hackers are not interested in helping with fixing problems in crypto networks at all. Earlier this month, 7000 BTC (worth $55 million at press time) was stolen from cryptocurrency exchange Binance after hackers discovered and exploited a vulnerability in its infrastructure.

Binance runs its own bug bounty program that awards white-hat hackers with up to $100,000 for a single vulnerability.