Monica Jackson
Bugcrowd, HackerOne and Synack have received separate contracts to expand the Defense Department‘s bug bounty challenges and explore other crowdsourced methods to secure its public-facing websites.
All three companies will help DoD develop additional activities for the security initiative aimed at identifying vulnerabilities in private defense systems, the department said Wednesday.
The Pentagon wants to conduct continuous tests of its cyber assets, extend assessments to hardware and physical systems, as well as coordinate with ethical hackers as they develop, field and sustain bug-detection tools.
“Expanding our crowdsourced security work allows us to build a deeper bench of tech talent and bring more diverse perspectives to protect and defend our assets,†said Chris Lynch, director of the Defense Digital Service.
HackerOne has conducted bug bounties for the DoD and U.S. military branches since the department launched its Hack the Pentagon challenge in 2016.
Synack also participated in the development of the event two years ago.
