Cybersecurity
Facebook's Reward for Bug Hunters
The company rewards ethical hackers with cash and cachet
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Tal Be’ery was happy helping Facebook fight hackers for free. In 2010, when the computer security professional was looking into how identity thieves, spammers, and other con artists used fake Facebook profiles to mount scams, he discovered a flaw that put new users’ passwords at risk of interception.
So Be’ery did what ethical hackers are supposed to do: He ignored the payday he undoubtedly could get from selling the information to criminals and alerted Facebook, which quickly fixed the problem. In recognition, the world’s biggest social media company added Be’ery’s name to a public list of researchers who have responsibly disclosed Facebook bugs.