Innovation in the Free World
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Objective Reviewers
Count us in the fan column for innovation in today’s free-market environment. Relentless pursuit of excellence in software development has us cheering from the bleachers like rabid soccer fans.
We are impressed by the program that some software houses offer where a bug bounty is provided to the developer community to help uncover problems their internal staff missed. We liken the approach to the Clean Eye Read we use to build the next thriller novel in our series. An objective reviewer catches things the creator often misses.
Take, for instance, the software developers at Lockbit and their newest release Lockbit 3.0. Link: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lockbit-30-introduces-the-first-ransomware-bug-bounty-program/?fs=e&s=cl
The LockBit ransomware operation has released ‘LockBit 3.0,’ introducing the first ransomware bug bounty program and leaking new extortion tactics and Zcash cryptocurrency payment options.
The ransomware operation launched in 2019 and has since grown to be the most prolific ransomware operation, accounting for 40% of all known ransomware attacks in May 2022.
Over the weekend, the cybercrime gang released a revamped ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation called LockBit 3.0 after beta testing for the past two months, with the new version already used in attacks.
Bug Bounty
Wait — what? Cyber slime ransomware manufacturers are offering a bug bounty from $1,000 to $1 million depending on what is found deficient in their code? And it’s open to all security researchers — ethical and unethical hackers on the planet. At least they are equal-opportunity employers.
We almost missed this news release because the offer looked so legitimate. Talk about your oxymoron, a legitimate bug bounty offering to the development community, except it’s for ransomware. Ordinarily, we applaud software developers for trying to deliver the most robust and stable product into the marketplace, but this is outrageous.
Keep Reading; There’s More
Their post gets worse. Among the requests for researcher support, look at their other outrageous plea to the…
