Hackrate Managed Bug Bounty Program

Security threats are evolving while IT systems, cloud environments, and applications are constantly changing. Hackrate’s Bug Bounty Program provides a proactive, cost-efficient way to identify software vulnerabilities by leveraging crowdsourced ethical hackers who simulate real-world attacks to uncover hidden security gaps.

This professional service supports organizations in identifying security vulnerabilities in applications, APIs, and digital assets running on or using Amazon Web Services (AWS). The service can be used to assess customer applications and workloads built on AWS services such as Amazon EC2, Amazon API Gateway, Amazon CloudFront, Elastic Load Balancing, Amazon S3, and other AWS services used to host, operate, or deliver applications.

Hackrate provides a secure, centralized platform for managing ethical hacking projects tailored to each organization’s needs. Unlike time-bound penetration tests, bug bounty programs can provide continuous security testing as applications and AWS-hosted workloads evolve.

How It Works

1. Scope Definition: We work with the customer to define objectives, eligible AWS-hosted applications and other digital assets, testing scope, rewards for reported vulnerabilities, and the number of security researchers invited. Programs can be private with selected researchers or public and open to the wider Hackrate researcher community.

2. Preparation for Testing: The testing plan is established, including the timeline, rules of engagement, eligible vulnerability types, permitted testing techniques, and restrictions designed to protect production environments and underlying AWS infrastructure.

3. Testing and Reporting: Ethical hackers perform authorized security testing against the customer-defined application scope and submit detailed vulnerability reports with reproduction and exploitation steps. Depending on the selected service model, reports can be managed directly by the customer or validated and triaged by Hackrate.

4. Risk Remediation: Customers can use the reported findings to remediate vulnerabilities affecting their applications and AWS-hosted workloads. Researchers and, where applicable, Hackrate’s security team can support the validation and remediation process.

Key Benefits

• Continuous Testing: Ongoing security testing that can identify vulnerabilities as applications and AWS-hosted workloads change.
• Real-World Attack Coverage: Security researchers identify logic flaws, business-impact vulnerabilities, and chained attack paths that automated security tools may not detect.
• Enterprise-Ready Reporting: Structured vulnerability reports with severity ratings, reproduction steps, and documentation suitable for security and compliance processes.
• Centralized Management: Manage vulnerabilities, researcher communication, program scope, budgets, and integrations such as Jira Cloud through the Hackrate platform.
• Validated Reports: With managed programs, Hackrate security experts validate vulnerability submissions and assess severity to provide accurate and actionable findings.

Flexible Program Models

• Private: Invite-only security testing with selected researchers.
• Continuous: Always-on programs providing coverage as applications and AWS workloads evolve.
• Self-Managed: Customers operate the program directly through the Hackrate platform.
• Managed: Hackrate supports program operation, researcher communication, vulnerability triage, and validation.
• Hybrid: Combine structured penetration testing with crowdsourced security research.
• Scale: Start with selected applications or AWS workloads and gradually expand the testing scope.

Hackrate’s Bug Bounty Program can help organizations continuously assess the security of applications and workloads operating on AWS while maintaining control over testing scope, researcher access, and vulnerability disclosure. Programs can start with a focused scope and expand as the organization’s security testing requirements evolve.