GitLab Doles Out Half a Million Bucks to White Hats

GitLab has awarded a total of $565,650 in security bug bounties to 171 researchers who reported valid vulnerabilities in the past year — and has announced the winners of its latest hacking contest. GitLab, which started out as a web-based Git repository manager before moving into the DevOps...

Sharing research and discoveries at PWN2OWN

The annual PWN2OWN exploit contest at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, brings together some of the top security talent from across the globe in a friendly competition. For the participants, these events are a platform to demonstrate world-class skills and vie for...

Wassenaar, Bug Bounties and Vulnerability Rewards Programs

Bug bounties have gone from novelty to necessity, not only for enterprises looking to take advantage of the skills of an organized pool of vulnerability hunters, but also for a slew of independent researchers who make a living contributing to various vendor and independent bounty and reward...

Researchers, Vendors Await Google Disclosure Fallout

The endless loop that is the disclosure debate got a jolt of energy yesterday when Google said it would support researchers’ disclosure of details on actively exploited critical vulnerabilities just seven days after the researcher has notified the vendor in question. Google hopes the policy...

Getting Dirty

Other firms sponsor contests at DEFCON as well. Dirtbags is one. The organization hosts CTF style contests around the country that are modeled on the DEFCON CTF...

Contests, Contests and More Contests

Contests abound at DEFCON. In addition to the open and closed capture the flag tourneys, there’s a lock picking contest, shown here. The contestant in green shorts must free himself from a pair of handcuffs, then make his way across stage, picking locks as he goes...

Hackers Got "Wired In"

Competition in the CTF contests is intense, with teams of hackers “wired in” as they might say in The Social Network and crowded around tables filled with laptops, cabling, soda, booze and junk food. Age is no obstacle, either, with some of the most skilled and technical hackers unable to legally...

Dino Dai Zovi on Mac OS X Rootkits, Mac Exploitation and Hacking Contests

Dennis Fisher talks with security researcher Dino Dai Zovi about his upcoming Black Hat talk on Mac OS X rootkits, exploiting the Mac and the value of hacking contests and internal code reviews. Download SHOW NOTES: Dino Dai Zovi on Mac Security, ‘nomore free bugs’ Where is Apple’s Trustworthy...