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New Bill Aims to Institute DHS Bug Bounty Program

By Marcos Colon

Hacking the Department of Homeland Security may soon be possible if a new bill is approved.

Sponsored by senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and cosponsored by senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Kamala Harris (D-CA), the Hack Department of Homeland Security Act would institute a bug bounty program similar to those launched by the Army, Air Force, and Pentagon.

In a press release highlighting the bipartisan bill, Senator Hassan said it would serve as the “first step to utilize best practices from the private sector to harness the skills of hackers across America as a force multiplier against” cyber threats.

Like the other programs, this initiative would award white hat hackers monetarily for identifying vulnerabilities in the department’s networks.

The new program would leverage HackerOne’s bug bounty platform to help coordinate the submitted vulnerability reports, according to Threat Post

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