Security News > 2021 > January > U.S. Government Announces 'Hack the Army 3.0' Bug Bounty Program
The U.S. government on Wednesday announced the launch of another bug bounty program conducted in collaboration with hacker-powered cybersecurity platform HackerOne.
Hack the Army 3.0, whose goal is to help the U.S. Army secure its digital assets and protect its systems against cyberattacks, takes place between January 6 and February 17, and it's open to both millitary and civilian white hat hackers.
"Bug bounty programs are a unique and effective 'force multiplier' for safeguarding critical Army networks, systems and data, and build on the efforts of our Army and DoD security professionals," said Brig.
"By 'crowdsourcing' solutions with the help of the world's best military and civilian ethical hackers, we complement our existing security measures and provide an additional means to identify and fix vulnerabilities. Hack the Army 3.0 builds upon the successes and lessons of our prior bug bounty programs."
In the previous Hack the Army program, which ran in October and November 2019, the government paid out $275,000 in rewards for 146 valid vulnerabilities.
The Defense Department's first bug bounty program was announced in 2016 and the initiatives launched since have resulted in the patching of thousands of vulnerabilities and millions of dollars being paid out.