Uber will reward you for your ‘friendly’ hacking skills

19 Apr

Do you have hacking skills?  Uber recently promised friendly hackers $10,000 (only friendly ones!) to find bugs in their system.  Is Uber putting its current users at risk or is it trying to protect them – that’s the question in the minds and on the lips of many!

For those not yet familiar with the concept, Uber is a company that works on connecting drivers with riders via mobile and internet platforms.  The whole premise of Uber is convenience, but both riders and drivers need to feel that their personal information is safe!

The “Bug Bounty” program which was launched last month by Uber, offers hackers the opportunity to find hackable bugs in their system and on their website.  The rewards vary of course, according to the severity of the damage that could be done, if the bug wasn’t discovered before an unscrupulous hacker.  The Bug Bounty program has also lead to the hiring of many professional hackers who are to head up security initiatives to protect the best interests of Uber, its people and of course its clients.

Of course Uber has had its fair share of security breaches.  While the company doesn’t own driver cars, it experienced a security breach recently where researchers at the University of California discovered a security weakness in the internet connected insurance dongles offered to Uber drivers.  They used this weakness to gain access to the vehicle’s internal CAN networks.  What can hackers do with this sort of access?  A lot really – anything from turning the windscreen wipers on to cutting the brakes!

Gone are the days where being a hacker had such negative connotations attached.  Being a hacker these days can actually be used for good and Uber might just be proving that with their Bug Bounty program!

The concern is that in order to facilitate the bug hunting, Uber has promised to supply the hunters with a site map giving them access to the same systems that Uber staff have access to – surely that’s taking cyber security to a whole new level!

What do you think of Uber’s bounty program?  Do you think it’s good to hand sensitive information over to potentially dangerous hackers or do you think Uber is taking a bigger step in the right direction to further enable security?  We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Comments are closed.