Japanese university begins training ‘white-hat’ hackers to probe cybersecurity weaknesses
Bug-hunting contests are increasingly promoted, with firms paying out millions of yen to young computer whizzes who have identified vulnerabilities
“White-hat” hackers who spot a security vulnerability in a computer system or network may be one of the most sought after professions in Japan today with technology firms struggling with increasing threats of cyberattacks.
In an effort to strengthen education on system security and train ethical hackers, a state-run Japanese college has launched a bug-hunting contest among its students.
White-hat hackers are those who detect security weakness to prevent “black-hat” malicious hackers from infiltrating computer systems, and stealing and destroying data.
We expect those who perform excellently in the contest to play a leading role in the security industry in the future
In 2014, Cybozu introduced a “bug bounty” programme, allowing white-hat hackers to test its system and paying them cash rewards for finding any vulnerability.
Akitsugu Ito, an official of the Tokyo-based software company, said the firm pays up to 500,000 yen (US$4,400) for each problem detected. About 370 vulnerabilities had been recognised by the end of last year under the bug bounty programme, he said, adding the total payout has amounted to around 15.6 million yen.
“Outside security experts have special expertise in discovering security problems,” Ito said. “They can identify bugs that cannot be spotted in our tests.”
Line, the operator of the popular free messaging application in Japan, followed suit in 2016.
Meanwhile, Sprout, a cybersecurity venture in Tokyo, launched a business in 2016 aimed at connecting security-conscious companies with white-hat hackers around the world. The company takes security vulnerability reports from bug hunters and pay rewards to them on behalf of the member companies.