A bug bounty platform is inviting hackers to share the proceeds of their successful bug hunts with the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
On April 8, HackerOne set up a special link on its website that lets hackers donate all or part of the bounties they earn to charity in just a few clicks.
"The community has come together in some amazing ways to support COVID-19 relief efforts from Marc Rogers’ CTI League, the US Digital Response group helping governments, to individual hackers raising their hand to help. Today, HackerOne is doing our part by making it even easier for hackers to give back through bug bounties (monetary earnings for finding real-world security vulnerabilities) with a custom donation profile—https://hackerone.com/hackforgood," said a spokesperson for HackerOne yesterday.
"Hackers can invite 'hackforgood' as a collaborator on any paid bug bounty program to donate all or part of the money they earned to charity."
Although the donation profile was set up in response to an active pandemic, HackerOne said the concept could endure long after the health crisis is resolved.
"The charity will rotate on a monthly basis, but right now donations will go to The World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund," said a spokesperson for HackerOne.
The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund was established by the World Health Organization to help countries around the world combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Donations help to pay for buying and shipping personal protective equipment to frontline workers, patient care, producing evidence-based guidelines and advice, and accelerating efforts to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments.
Hacking for charity isn’t a new concept. The "2020 Hacker Report" published by HackerOne in February found that over a quarter of hackers carry out hacking activities "to protect and defend, do good, and help others."
Earlier this year, a team of 4 hackers known as The Syndicate took to Twitter to announce that they will be donating 5% of all live hacking event earnings to charity and 5% of their time in 2020 and beyond to volunteering.