Blockchain technology is gaining more and more traction in the media. International banks, transportation and technology companies are exploring ways to invest into blockchain technology to improve their businesses.
Just look at the CBinsights report :
“Since June 2014, the 10 largest US banks by assets have participated in 9 rounds totaling $267M in disclosed funding to 6 blockchain companies. Between 2014 and 2017 more than 130 companies have raised more or equal to $500 000 through ICO funding.”
BP and Shell are working on an oil trading blockchain platform , Bank of America has already filed 50 blockchain patents , UPS is actively working on adopting blockchain , Facebook and Google are also in the race.
Naturally, as technology evolves, cybersecurity threats pose ever greater risk to blockchain development. According to Reuters and EY report ICO funded projects hit by 100 cyber attacks a month which results in roughly 10% of funds raised being stolen by black hat hackers. In this article, we will explain why bug bounty programs are an effective way to ensure security of blockchain-based products.
As amounts of information and complexity of business processes grow, companies rely more and more on internet connection for daily operations. This gives hackers multiple opportunities to penetrate companies’ networks and steal valuable data, such as intellectual property, personally identifiable information, financial data, etc.
Traditional penetration testing is not going be effective when testing blockchain products. Sheer variety of attack points and attack surfaces implies that there are lots of things that can go wrong. Even deploying a large team of cybersecurity experts will not be enough.
To test blockchain-based products thoroughly, we need to take this process to another level by using a Bug Bounty Programs .
In essence – bug bounty programs attract third party cybersecurity experts with various backgrounds to test products for monetary rewards.
Bug Bounty Platforms, such as HackenProof help other companies prepare, run and manage Bug Bounty Programs.
It’s no surprise that a significant number of blockchain-based products run regular bug bounty programs in order to convince potential users/customers that their products are safe:
Сrowdsourced security approach is the most efficient method of testing blockchain-based products, hence bug bounty programs will continue to be an integral part of the blockchain evolution.
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