National Australia Bank (NAB) has launched a bug bounty program, offering money to security researchers who uncover previously unknown vulnerabilities in the bank's environment.
The bank has partnered with security firm Bugcrowd for the new program. To participate, individuals must have an “Elite Trust Score” on the Bugcrowd platform.
National Australia Bank's chief operating officer for business security Nick McKenzie said the use of "controlled crowdsourcing" methods would help National Bank further test and strengthen its existing cybersecurity capabilities
“Specialized security researchers can uncover vulnerabilities in our company,” McKenzie said. “Proactive cybersecurity measures are vital in today’s hyperconnected environment , where new threats are constantly emerging.”
McKenzie said that moving to a bounty system gives NAB the opportunity to “attract a broader pool of security researchers from around the world.” “Diversity is a critical but often useful security factor,” he added.
NAB admitted last July that some of the personal information of around 13,000 customers was “uploaded”, without authorization, to the servers of two data providers.
The compromised data included the customer's name, date of birth, contact information , and, in some cases, a government-issued identification number, such as a driver's license number.
NAB in early 2017 also admitted that it sent the details of around 60,000 customers to the wrong email address.
