How To Handle A Bug Bounty Program Internally
Most businesses are not prepared to provide public bug bounties because they lack the necessary procedures, have too many vulnerabilities, or lack adequate processes. Some businesses use internal bug bounties to get around this difficulty. Some bug bounty services manage internal bug bounties, while others manage external, private bug bounty firms. An internal bug reward is a fantastic way to get started with a public bug bounty.
Internal bug bounty programmes only allow corporate personnel to participate. However, corporations will occasionally utilise their own teams and outsourced security researchers to increase the skill base doing the testing.
Below, outlined are some of the critical learnings essential to run an internal bug bounty program.
1. Planning & defining the scope
You will still need to specify a clear scope of what staff may test, as with typical bug bounty programmes. Many internal programmes, for example, will concentrate on testing a web application, mobile app, or network architecture.
Failure to make this point explicit may result in reporting of already known vulnerabilities or ones unrelated to your requirements.
2. Setting up an internal bug bounty program
At this point, you must pick the technologies you will use to publish your programme (internally), track participation, securely receive reports, and interact with team members.
This component might be challenging, especially if you are new to running a programme or have limited technological resources.
3. Recruiting participants
It’s time to invite your employees to start hunting! You should explain:
· What’s required
· How to format and submit reports
· The best way to communicate about discovered bugs.
You’ll also need to tell them what kind of bounties they can expect and when they’ll be paid. Also, explain how they should set up their payment options.
4. Receiving submissions
Once the vulnerability reports start pouring in, there are two critical points to remember:
· Reports may include sensitive data.
· You could get a lot of reports!
Given the nature of vulnerability reports, you must have a secure method in place for their submission, storage, and transmission. Consider the irony of attempting to strengthen your security posture by adopting risky actions that a threat actor may exploit!
You may once again devote time and money to developing internal security tools and rules for submitting and debating your application. You can also use a bug bounty platform, which is designed specifically for the task.
5. The impact of triage
If you opt to operate your own internal programme, you’ll need a triage team that is aware of the following.
· Expect a lot of variation in quantity and quality: When a report is sent, you must read, evaluate, and test it.
· Prepare the resources: If your internal programme is a success right away and you get a deluge of reports, you’ll need the time and resources to deal with it.
· Vulnerability reports are frequently quite technical: You’ll need security professionals on your triage team who can analyse and verify whether or not dangers exist and how serious they are.
· Allowing a backlog of reports to accumulate is never a bright idea: If your employees do not receive timely information and payments, they will lose interest in your programme.
· Duplicates will occur: Several complaints referring to the same problem may appear within days or hours of each other. This is especially frequent with low-hanging fruit. However, this does not imply that they will all submit similar reports, making them more difficult to detect.
Finally, all vulnerability report submissions must include a Proof of Concept (POC). Consider the following scenario: a report arrives, and you run the POC, but you are unable to recreate it. Maybe it’s your environment, so you try adjusting some variables — nothing happens, so you send the report back to the person who filed it for an explanation.
6. Motivation, payouts, and reputation
Your bug bounty programme should now be fully operational. You may have seen a lot of initial excitement for your programme. The next step is to figure out how to keep that excitement going.
While you may have an excellent staff of highly motivated, security-minded employees looking for bugs, it’s definitely safe to say that they’ll be even more dedicated if their vulnerability reports are promptly assessed and paid for. Make certain that you have the resources in place to process payments and optimise involvement. After all, no one like having to wait to get paid.
Teams may also have a lot of fun with bug bounty programmes. They provide a competitive element to the insect search, which keeps people engaged. Dedicated bug bounty platforms can make it easier for you to set up payout and leaderboard systems.
Bug bounty platforms can enable internal programmes.
Given the complexity of the systems, protocols, and experience necessary, as well as the time required for thorough triage, the best method to operate an internal bug bounty programme is usually nearly through a dedicated bug bounty platform, such as BugBase. You get the best of
both worlds: a fun, instructive programme; enhanced cybersecurity; and the time-consuming triage process handled by skilled specialists!
What is BugBase?
Bugbase is a broad-spectrum Continuous Vulnerability Assessment Platform (CVAP) involving susceptibility analysis that ensures enterprises and businesses are secure by delivering an all-in-one platform for continuous and thorough vulnerability testing.
Bugbase allows you, as a corporation, to create bug bounty programmes and Vulnerability Disclosure Programmes, all while providing services like Ptaas(Pentest as service) and Enterprise VAPT by employing experienced security researchers and ethical hackers.
Various programmes for your company may be registered for and set up easily using Bugbase’s coherent Platform. We will keep you updated on our most recent updates and at Bugbase appreciates you becoming a member of our BugFam! and hope you had a fantastic week.