As part of a push for better cyber security, Yelp, the de facto king of online restaurant reviews, is allowing the hacker community to take part in its bug bounty program. The program essentially rewards hackers for discovering legitimate vulnerabilities within the Yelp network, offering a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $15,000. According to Yelp's official bug bounty program page, the average bounty reward is approximately $500.
Aside from the main Yelp page (i.e. the consumer site,) the bug bounty program extends to business owners' pages, Yelps apps, its reservations, the support center, and its API. While Yelp will review any potential bugs before awarding a bounty, the process is relatively quick, with an average of 13 hours before a hacker receives a response from the site and 15 days until the bug is assessed and the bounty awarded.
Computer Bug Bounty Programs
Yelp's Bug-Finding Program Rewards Hackers for Finding Weaknesses
Trend Themes
1. Bug Bounty Programs - There is an opportunity to create a new market by providing better and comprehensive bug bounty program platforms with higher payouts and additional services for companies looking to enhance their cybersecurity measures.
2. Crowdsourcing Security - There is an opportunity to develop crowdsourcing security platforms that leverage the collective power of ethical hackers to identify and resolve vulnerabilities within company networks and applications.
3. Increased Collaboration Between Hackers and Corporations - There is an opportunity for increased collaboration between ethical hackers and corporations to improve cybersecurity measures and create a more secure online environment for consumers and businesses.
Industry Implications
1. Cybersecurity - With the rise of bug bounty programs, cybersecurity firms have an opportunity to develop new software and services that help organizations to uncover vulnerabilities within their cybersecurity measures.
2. Hospitality - The success of Yelp's bug bounty program provides an opportunity for other companies within the hospitality industry to launch similar programs that can help protect their systems and maintain customer trust.
3. Technology - The implementation of bug bounty programs highlights the importance of cybersecurity for technology companies and presents an opportunity to create innovative software solutions that can help prevent cyber attacks and data breaches.