In the wake of recent phishing and hacking problems at their cryptocurrency exchange, Binance has decided they are going to move from playing defense to offense. They are going to start offering bounties for information that leads to the capture of anyone operating a hacking or phishing operation targetting Binahce.
The initial bounty offer is $250,000. However, Binance has allocated "$10,000,000 USD equivalent in crypto-reserves" to the bounty fund, so it is only logical to conclude they intend to keep it running for some time and through multiple potential claimants.
I suspect such a campaign will provide no real actionable intelligence. Even if exchange customers were trained security experts (which they are not), how would they intercept, or have access to, any information about potential hacks or phishing attempts? It seems like a well-meaning PR stunt that has no real downside, since preventing a hack will probably save more than $250,000 anyway, so why not leave the offer out there on the table?
Perhaps the mere perception of a bounty being available would make it more appealing or profitable to hack other exchanges, but frankly, I doubt it. Binance is a large and well-known exchange with high volume, so I can't imagine an amateur bounty program taking a substantial portion of the "heat" off, which is no doubt more organized than the would-be "Dawg"s.
In case you were wondering, yes, the bounties are denominated in fiat. However, you'll note that Binance only offers "USD-equivalent", so actual payouts could be cryptocurrency or even Binance tokens. That latter option, in particular, would be amusing, albeit contractually sound.
I suspect it might not be the best PR move, though!
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Thanks for sharing
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Ahahah. Things are getting crazy 🤪!
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nice post, thanks for sharing
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Thank for sharing this valuable information
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omg... bdw tnq for the info. man... thumbs up for it
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Am new to steemit Seeing all these gives me joy nice post as a matter of fact it just made my first posthttps://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@mikeok123/meet-the-versatile-man-new-to-steemit-programmer-singer-poet-nigerian-89691bb870d1c
I aspire to be like you soon
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Bounty on hackers would be a nice idea to get all cleaned up .
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Here is the news from Wall Street Journal Today (03-13-2018)
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Binance be like:
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Thanks, for the, great! information That s s good
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I think you got it wrong there. There's a fair amount of #infosec people trading cryptos. Very few would use the same aliases in this environment as the ones they use in their respective security research areas, it's a bad opsec to inform the bad guys about your financial assets and habits. Infosec researchers are targeted on a daily basis as it is.
But... Having said that, having a bounty as an incentive for the bad guys to snitch on one another (because seriously, who else would have that kind of information, right?), that might be like opening a can of worms...
Akin to the "hack back" scenario which harms more than it helps.
I'd rather see @binanceexchange invest that amount of money on a bug bounty program, that would be a healthier move. I guarantee it would be an instant success on platforms like hackerone and bugcrowd. If Binance's problem is the lack of expertise in managing such programs, those platforms could manage the bounty programs for them. (rather, would, that's what they do, mostly)
So my argument is more on the side of ignorance about today's infosec environment and procedures, rather than it being solely a PR move, and I do agree with you, it's not the best one at that!
I'd love to hear what @binanceexchange has to say about the "head hunting bounty" versus "bug bounty" issue, to understand their motives a bit, though.
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Its really good that they are taking actions, but since they were a target once its most likley they'll be targetted again which is why we shouldnt leave big amounts on exchanges.
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Do you think that they will find hackers?I think even with such a reward, not whom they will not find!Hackers are far from being stupid.So this is the next PR of the Crypto Exchange!
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I agree that mostly it is PR, but there is more behind it. Recent hack was carefully prepared fro month. Hackers used fishing technic to gather data and kept till the date of attack. I believe a lot of people so this fishing attempts, but were clever enough not to give any information. How many of them reported them to Binance? If Binance new about these strange activity they've could to do smth (or maybe not). Such statements will lead to people strating reporting all strange activity. No one will receive money for that, but Binance will get the information and will look more reliable. It is a win win situation.
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good
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Hackception lol
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Thanks for the great information. That's s good work binance has started doing.
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I like Binance and I consider it one of the few reputable exchanges out there. They always seem to try to handle their problems in a professional matter.
But this kinda screams PR stunt.
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dont know how it is possible to give information about potential hacks or phishing attempts
they need to take more hard steps
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Thanks for the great information. That's s good work binance has started doing.
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Binance are a great company. I hope they are never hacked
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Thank you for the information! It will help me.
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Womnderful
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If the hacker hacks themselves for having being the original hacker... does he or she get paid twice?
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