The Internet Bug Bounty (IBB), a not-for-profit bug bounty program backed by such tech companies as Facebook and Microsoft, revealed that it has received three $ 100,000 donations from Facebook, an existing donor, and new investors GitHub and the Ford Foundation.
Founded in 2013, the IBB provides financial incentives to security researchers and “white hat hackers” to identify weaknesses in core internet infrastructure and open source software such as Ruby, PHP, Python, and OpenSSL. The organization is managed by a panel of volunteers from across the security realm, including employees from Uber, Microsoft, Facebook, Adobe, and fellow bug bounty body HackerOne.
Facebook has sponsored the IBB since its inception, so it’s perhaps no surprise to see the social networking giant participate in additional funding, but code-hosting repository GitHub and the billion-dollar Ford Foundation are notable additions to the IBB’s squadron of backers.
“Open source software underpins the backbone of the internet and society’s most critical digital infrastructure,” explained Shawn Davenport, VP of security at GitHub. “We believe deeply in the importance of this initiative, and we’re excited to sponsor the Internet Bug Bounty and support the people who work tirelessly everyday to ensure the internet is as safe and secure as it can possibly be.”
Today’s news comes a day after The Tor Project launched its first ever public bug bounty program through HackerOne. This followed the involvement of many other well-known companies, including Twitter, which paid out more than $ 300,000 in prizes between 2014 and 2016, as well as Airbnb, Uber, Yelp, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
“When we have the means to reward altruistic hackers for uncovering critical vulnerabilities in public domains, we are making the internet a safer place for everyone,” added Alex Rice, HackerOne CTO and founder, who serves on the IBB’s panel.
The IBB said that since its launch it has awarded more than $ 600,000 in bounties to hackers, covering 625 vulnerabilities.
