Testing Real Targets
After you are thoroughly done with your basics and have a decent level of skill, you can start doing the actual hunting on real websites. A lot of websites run bug bounty programs for their web assets. Some big names are:
- Verizon
- Starbucks
- Shopify
- Spotify
- Apple
These companies reward generously but finding a security bug on any of their assets is highly difficult due to tough competition. You must remember that the top bug bounty hunters of the world are testing these websites along with you. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t find something at all.
How to Get Started With Bug Bounty?
Bug Bounty programs are a great way for companies to add a layer of protection to their online assets. A bug bounty program is a crowdsourced penetration testing program that rewards for finding security bugs and ways to exploit them. For researchers or cybersecurity professionals, it is a great way to test their skills on a variety of targets and get paid well in case they find some security vulnerabilities. The number of companies that have a formal crowdsourced program is increasing and so are the people who want to become freelance penetration testers. The aspiring bug bounty hunters are of much different knowledge, experience, and skill levels.
Some are completely new to the idea of web development with little prior programming experience, some are experienced web developers with no experience in cybersecurity while some are highly skilled cybersecurity professionals. The steps that should be taken are the same for everyone, one can, however, skip one or more steps based on his/her skills and experience.
Let’s get started with these steps: