One of the most popular adult websites in the world, YouPorn, has joined HackerOne, a security collective which has recently secured new funding to the tune of $40 million. Founded in 2012, HackerOne provides companies like YouPorn an easy way to implement a bug bounty program, allowing hackers a secure and safe way of reporting vulnerabilities in exchange for payment.
Like pornography, bug bounty programs are big business, with companies like Facebook, Apple and Google having paid out millions of dollars in exchange for the safe disclosure of vulnerabilities on their platforms.
Vice President of YouPorn Brad Burns pointed out that YouPorn does have its own security staff, but went on to say:
...vulnerabilities and breaches are ongoing, so it is important to continuously stay as many steps ahead of potential online threats as possible.
We encourage researchers to reach out and let us know if they find any potential issues, and we will be happy to work to resolve the issue quickly.
We guarantee that they are to be fairly rewarded for their time and effort.
With over one billion video views per month, it"s understandable that YouPorn want to limit both downtime and any harm to its brand that could arise from a hack. YouPorn is a sister company of Pornhub, which launched its own bug bounty program last year. YouPorn is offering rewards of between $50 and $25,000 for each safely reported vulnerability.
So, next time you"re sat in a cafe and the bearded guy near you is viewing a porn site, don"t judge. He might just be looking for a security hole.
Source: VentureBeat