How Hackers Help NASA Stay Secure: Inside the NASA VDP
1 min read
Summary
Ethical hacking is helping to keep NASA safe in the cyber world.
The space agency operates a Vulnerability Disclosure Policy (VDP) on Bugcrowd, which allows ethical hackers to report security flaws, in return for which NASA promises not to pursue legal action and to acknowledge those researchers who play by the rules.
While there is no financial reward for success, hackers often get a place in NASA’s Hall of Fame and receive official letters of appreciation.
In May 2024, a new bug hunter discovered exposed personnel directories; in another case, an outdated content management system was identified along with arbitrary command execution vulnerabilities.
NASA’s collaboration with the ethical hacking community is seen as a beneficial way of maintaining robust cyber security.