With earnings of top ethical hackers surpassing hundreds of thousands of dollars, some would say yes
Ethical hackers earned nearly US$40 million in bug bounties in 2019, which was almost equal to payouts for all previous years combined, according to the 2020 Hacker Report by bug bounty platform provider HackerOne.
The popularity of white hat hacking as a career is soaring, so much so that, for some, it has become a lucrative career option. The hackers once saw themselves as inhabitants of the darkest recesses of the internet, but times have changed, notes the platform’s fourth annual report.
No fewer than 850 white hats are joining the ranks of the 600,000-strong community on average every day. No wonder since seven bug hunters have already surpassed US$1 million in lifetime earnings from their pursuits, while 13 more hit the US$500,000 mark. A total of 146 bug hunters have earned more than US$100,000, which is almost triple the number of white hats who earned that much in 2018.
Based on a survey published in the report, however, most members of the community consider ethical hacking as a way to supplement their incomes. By contrast, just about 22% of respondents claim that hacking makes up their whole incomes. That is corroborated with 40% of participants stating that they devote 20 hours a week to sleuthing for vulnerabilities, while just 18% consider themselves full-time ethical hackers.
Although white hats want to help organizations, two-thirds of them chose not to report their findings due to a variety of reasons. Four in ten stated that it was due to “threatening legal language” listed on the organization’s websit ..
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