Cardano Foundation Doubles Hacker Bounty Rewards for Finding Key Vulnerabilities in Its Blockchain

Hackers can earn up to $20,000 (roughly Rs. 15 lakh) for identifying critical Cardano Node security vulnerabilities.

By Shomik Sen Bhattacharjee | Updated: 17 February 2022 17:15 IST

Photo Credit: Cardano Foundation

Cardano is doubling its bug bounty program on Hackerone to tighten security

Highlights

Cardano partnered with HackerOne in August 2021
The smallest of bugs spotted will attract a reward of $800
The updated program will run for six weeks

Cardano Foundation, an independent Swiss not-for-profit organisation that oversees the advancement of Cardano's smart contract-enabled blockchain and its ecosystem, has temporarily doubled the rewards offered in its bug bounty program in an effort to further boost the network's security. According to an update shared HackerOne — a vulnerability management firm that the Cardano Foundation has partnered with, bug bounty rewards have been doubled for the next six weeks ending March 25, 2022.

The non-profit foundation had partnered with HackerOne back in August 2021 with the largest bounty previously offered to hackers marked at $10,000 (roughly Rs. 7.5 lakh) for finding critical bugs in the backend of the Cardano node and up to $7,500 (roughly Rs. 5.5 lakh) for locating critical weaknesses in the backend of the Cardano Wallet. The potential bounty has now been doubled to $20,000 (roughly Rs. 15 lakh) for critical vulnerabilities affecting Cardano nodes.

???? Calling all #hackers - it's time to boost your hacktivity!

We are excited to announce that Bounty amounts will be DOUBLED starting TODAY until Mar 25!!

Head over to @Hacker0x01 and submit your report: https://t.co/T3MXhsrrq9

*limited to scope mentioned in the above link pic.twitter.com/wUsQlmnm3x
— Cardano Foundation (@CardanoStiftung) February 14, 2022

Other vulnerabilities affecting nodes may grant white hat hackers rewards between $10,000 (roughly Rs. 7.5 lakh) and $800 (roughly Rs. 60,000). On the other hand, vulnerabilities affecting Cardano wallets can offer rewards ranging from $500 (roughly Rs. 37,500) to $15,000 (roughly Rs. 11 lakh) for exploits deemed critical.

The Cardano Foundation has detailed that hackers must provide detailed reports with reproducible steps to be eligible for these rewards. In its update, the Foundation wrote that it "looks forward to working with the security community to find security vulnerabilities in order to keep our businesses and customers safe."

NYSE Applies for Trademark to Function as Crypto Exchange, NFT Seller

The program, it added, aims to "strengthen the Cardano brand” while covering "essential items to access and manage crypto assets that are issued on the Cardano blockchain."

Twitter Tip Jar Feature Finally Gets Support for Ethereum Wallets

There is no doubt that the crypto industry is constantly growing and that the ecosystem needs the help of white-hat hackers to help projects in the system defend against vulnerabilities and hacks. A white-hat hacker, in simple terms, is an ethical security hacker who looks for loopholes or vulnerabilities that bad actors can take advantage of in a project. Due to the nature of the industry, white-hat hackers have increasingly become popular because of the unique role they play in the space.

Do Samsung's Galaxy S22 and Tab S8 series have any Android competition? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.