Companies increasingly offer bug bounties to help find vulnerabilities and threats. This is an opportunity for those looking to get into security

Mike Rothman, Analyst & President, Securosis

June 13, 2013

3 Min Read

Whenever I go to a conference, inevitably I'll meet a college student or a younger kid interested in security. They want to know how I got to -- well, wherever I am -- and how they can sit in coffee shops all day. Once I get over the shock that I had already graduated from college before these kids were born, they usually want some guidance on how to get started in the business.

For quite a while, I told them to volunteer their time configuring networks and protecting data for organizations that didn't have internal resources to do so. You know, religious organizations, charities, youth groups, whatever. Just get some experience and use that to parlay into a corporate internship -- and eventually a job. I also told them about the need to learn some coding kung fu, since application security was going to be a big problem for many years to come. Even a blind squirrel finds the nut every so often.

As opposed to taking Java courses (which seemed like a good idea at the time), there's now another alternative. These kids can become bug bounty hunters. Don't turn up your nose yet. Hear me out a bit. Kids with an interest in security today have all sorts of ways to learn about security, but a bunch can land them in hot water. They can play around with DDoS tools, social-engineer their way into the big evil company, or break into their high school's network with Metasploit. And many do exactly that. Not because they are bad kids, but because they like to hack things, and the tools are out there and easy to use.

Consider a more productive approach. With Google recently increasing the bounty to find bugs and other companies taking a similar approach, those meddling kids can turn their talents to finding defects in these software products. Not only can the kids make a shekel or two, but they'll end up with invaluable experience and a few notches in their belts when they find bugs. And they will find stuff -- it's software, after all. This practical experience looks good to recruiters and other folks looking to find talented candidates for the tons of open security jobs.

To be clear, finding bugs is more about offense than defense. But it's a start, and once someone can successfully break things, they'll have a good perspective on how to protect it. If that's the direction they want to go in. With the security skills shortage in the industry, there will be plenty of opportunities for those who want to stay on an offensive track. And I don't mean those less-than-hygienic folks we all know and love.

It turns out these bug bounty programs are the rare win-win for both parties. The companies get very cheap Q/A help. Even if they pay $10K for a juicy bug, the typical qualified tester costs 12 to 15 times that (fully loaded) per year. That person would need to find a lot of juicy bugs to justify hiring them full time. Even better, the company gets exclusive access to the defect, presumably to fix it before the threat becomes a weaponized exploit.

Now, of course, if the enterprising prodigy realizes governments will pay really big money for unique bugs, they can skip a few steps in their career progression. But the NSA already knows about those bugs, right?

Mike Rothman is President of Securosis and author of The Pragmatic CSO. Check him out on the Twitterz at @securityincite.

About the Author(s)

Mike Rothman

Analyst & President, Securosis

Mike's bold perspectives and irreverent style are invaluable as companies determine effective strategies to grapple with the dynamic security threatscape. Mike specializes in the sexy aspects of security, like protecting networks and endpoints, security management, and compliance. Mike is one of the most sought after speakers and commentators in the security business and brings a deep background in information security. After 20 years in and around security, he's one of the guys who "knows where the bodies are buried" in the space.

Starting his career as a programmer and a networking consultant, Mike joined META Group in 1993 and spearheaded META's initial foray into information security research. Mike left META in 1998 to found SHYM Technology, a pioneer in the PKI software market, and then held VP Marketing roles at CipherTrust and TruSecure - providing experience in marketing, business development, and channel operations for both product and services companies.

After getting fed up with vendor life, he started Security Incite in 2006 to provide the voice of reason in an over-hyped yet underwhelming security industry. After taking a short detour as Senior VP, Strategy and CMO at eIQnetworks to chase shiny objects in security and compliance management, Mike joins Securosis with a rejuvenated cynicism about the state of security and what it takes to survive as a security professional.Mike published "The Pragmatic CSO" in 2007 to introduce technically oriented security professionals to the nuances of what is required to be a senior security professional. He also possesses a very expensive engineering degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University. His folks are overjoyed that he uses literally zero percent of his education on a daily basis.

He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @securityincite

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