Is The Market For Security Vulnerabilities A Good Thing?
from the government's-open-for-business dept
It used to be that security researchers would often reveal security vulnerabilities as a way to build their name and get some attention. However, with so many cases of that backfiring and having the messenger blamed, it appears that the growing trend is for those who find vulnerabilities to simply sell them for thousands of dollars -- with the U.S. government being a prominent purchaser. Researchers can also sell the vulnerabilities to security companies or (of course) questionable black market contacts -- though, most ethical security researchers want to make sure whoever they sell the vulnerability to is going to inform the company that makes the software. Of course, the whole concept of "selling vulnerabilities" seems vaguely extortionist, as the implicit threat is that if the government doesn't buy it, the researcher always could sell it to those with less than noble intentions. At the same time, though, it is odd to hear security researchers complain that it's tough to sell to the government because it's not easy to find the right contacts -- as if the government buyers should more readily advertise themselves.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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That will hold us for a while until the value of these exploits gets bid way up. Heres to hoping the supply of bugs can continue to expand and keep prices low.
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