Hackers taking part in HackerOne's first ever virtual live hacking event donated $5K in bug bounties to the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Fund.
The generous gesture was part of HackerOne's Hack for Good initiative, which invites hackers to hand over what they earn from companies by discovering bugs in their products and systems to charitable causes.
HackerOne's 13-day virtual hacking event attracted 50 hackers from 13 countries. The event had been scheduled to take place in Singapore earlier this month but was pushed back and moved online due to the widespread outbreak of COVID-19.
Currently, Singapore has over 11,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus. At time of writing, 12 Singaporeans had died after contracting the novel coronavirus, while 924 had recovered.
A spokesperson for HackerOne said: "To keep the spirit of an in-person event alive, in addition to hacking, the virtual event included several panels, virtual couch-side Q&As, and healthy competition in the form of virtual Pictionary and a push up challenge—giving hackers the opportunity to collaborate more closely with the target than ever before."
During the course of the event, more than 250 security vulnerabilities were submitted in Verizon Media assets and over $673,000 in bug bounties was awarded to hackers who succeeded in sniffing out vulnerabilities.
Topping the earnings charts was hacker mayonaise, who broke the record for the most bounties earned during a live hacking event. In addition, the closing days of the event marked the biggest week of bounty pay-outs ever with over $2.4m paid to hackers in bounties in just six days.
Asked how they felt about attending a virtual event versus an in-person affair, hacker Sébastien Morin said: “This first Virtual Live Hacking Event was very fun and a complete success! It felt like a Live Hacking Event marathon which lasts 2 weeks. It was amazing to be together even in this tough time.”
The absence of celebratory/commiseratory get-togethers in the bar was felt by hacker none_of_the_above.
They said: “I missed the drinks, the endless supply of cold Red Bull, the SWAG, the CTF-esque atmosphere. But all those things were replaced with all sorts of activities throughout the event which made us feel closer."