DOD launches website to accompany ‘Hack the Pentagon’ program

The Department of Defense (DOD) on Thursday launched a website to accompany its “Hack the Pentagon” program in order to scale and provide additional resources for the program, the DOD’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) announced.

The program itself, launched in 2016, invites security researchers and “ethical hackers” to test the Pentagon’s cybersecurity, with the chance to earn monetary rewards, called “bug bounties,” for reporting vulnerabilities in the systems.

The new website will serve as a resource “to learn how to conduct a bug bounty” and recruit technical talent participate in the programs, the DOD said.

“With the HtP website launch, CDAO is scaling a long running program, which historically offered services on a project-by-project basis, by offering the Department better access to lessons learned and best practices for hosting bug bounties,” Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer Craig Martell said.

To date, more than 1,400 “ethical hackers” have participated in the program so far, flagging more than 2,100 vulnerabilities.

The Department of Homeland Security also runs a bug bounty program — as do some tech companies in the private sector, like Facebook parent company Meta.