Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Hola! TV geo-block botters open bug bounties

Bot shop's security chop shot

Smarting from a barrage of criticism for botting its customers, VPN service Hola is hoping a bug bounty program will restore its security credentials.

The VPN service was caught turning its 9.7 million users into Luminati exit-nodes. It advertised this service as using customers who downloaded Luminati's TV geo-block smasher program as "Super Proxies" who were used to rout requests.

Hola chief executive officer Ofer Vilenski says as part of wider security upgrades, the company will invite hackers to report vulnerabilities in its service allowing it to sling patches and harden the platform.

"We have changed our site and product installation flows to make it crystal clear that Hola is P2P (peer to peer), and that you are sharing your resources with others," Vilenski says .

"This information is now 'in your face' - and no longer appears only in the FAQ.

"We will soon announce a bug bounty program for anyone that finds additional vulnerabilities in our products."

Vilenski has not yet released specific details.

Managed bug bounties have become popular in recent years with the launch of HackerOne and BugCrowd, with rewards ranging from tee-shirts to tens of thousands of dollars for the most dangerous holes.

Pundits advise bug bounties should include a policy page filed under a /security subdirectory on company websites, and sport a contact number pointing to someone who is charged with managing bug reports and maintaining responsive lines of communication. ®

 

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like