The hacker community reported more than 93,000 resolved security vulnerabilities last year and earned roughly $19 million in bug bounties while using HackerOne's vulnerability disclosure platform, according to the company
The $19 million figure nearly equals the total bug bounty earnings collected over the previous six years of the platform's existence, HackerOne explains in its third-annual Hacker Report.
Since HackerOne's inception, bug bounty hunters have raked in approximately $42 million in rewards via the platform. Individually, the biggest winner is 19-year-old Argentina native Santiago Lopez, aka @try_to_hack, who last year become the first hacker to earn $1 million via HackerOne.
"I do not have enough words to describe how happy I am to become the first hacker to reach this landmark," said Lopez in a press release. "I am incredibly proud to see that my work is recognized and valued. To me, this achievement represents that companies and the people that trust them are becoming more secure than they were before, and that is incredible. This is what motivates me to continue to push myself and inspires me to get my hacking to the next level."
HackerOne said that India, the U.S., Russia, Pakistan, and the UK are home to 51 percent of its bug bounty hunter community. However, this past year saw first-time participation from hackers in six African countries.
