The Department of Defense (DOD) has doubled down on its long-running ‘Hack the Pentagon’ program. The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) Directorate for Digital Services (DDS) has launched a website to accompany the longstanding Hack program. The hope is the website will encourage more participation and to provide additional resources for the program.
The “Hack the Pentagon” program launched in 2016, and asks security researchers and “ethical hackers” to test the Pentagon’s cybersecurity. All for the chance to earn monetary rewards, called “bug bounties,” when they report vulnerabilities in the systems.
This new website will be a resource for learning how to conduct a bug bounty. As well as to help recruit technical talent within the program. “Through Hack the Pentagon, we’re building a global talent pipeline for cybersecurity experts to contribute to our national defense outside of traditional government career paths,” said Jinyoung Englund, Acting Director, CDAO DDS.
“With the HtP website launch, CDAO is scaling a long running program, which historically offered services on a project-by-project basis, by offering the Department better access to lessons learned and best practices for hosting bug bounties,” said Dr. Craig Martell, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer. “The website helps equip DoD to run continuous bug bounties as part of a larger comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.”
So far the program had flagged more than 2,100 vulnerabilities. All thanks to the hard work of more than 1,400 “ethical hackers.”
You can check out the program for yourself here.
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