Cybersecurity

Pornhub is offering you up to $25K to hack its site and find flaws

Pornhub is seeking bug bounty hunters
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Pornhub is seeking bug bounty hunters

Finding security flaws probably isn't the first thing you go to Pornhub for, but the adult video site is offering up to $25,000 for you to do just that.

On Tuesday, Pornhub followed in the footsteps of some of the world's biggest technology companies and publically launched its so-called "bug bounty program" which invites people to hack its website to uncover any security kinks in the system in return for some cash.

It follows a private beta of the program which launched last year during which around two dozen issues were identified and fixed.

Rewards range between $50 and $25,000 depending on the severity of the bug found.

In order to qualify, so-called "white hat hackers" – or good hackers – must be the first to report the vulnerability, send a clear description of the issue and how to reproduce the vulnerability, include screenshots or proof of concept code, and disclose the bug exclusively to Pornhub.

Payments are made through a service called HackerOne which allows companies to host their bug bounty programs.

"Like other major tech players have been doing as of late, we're tapping some of the most talented security researchers as a proactive and precautionary measure – in addition to our dedicated developer and security teams – to ensure not only the security of our site but that of our users, which is paramount to us," Core Price, vice president of Pornhub, said in a press release.

The adult entertainment site has 60 million daily visitors which could make it a prime target for hackers.

Pornhub outlined its rules online which included forbidding people to carry out "denial of service" attacks which essentially overload a server and cause issues on the website, as well as physical attacks against offices and data centers. It also outlined a number of vulnerabilities which will not be included in the program.

Bug bounty programs are popular among technology companies because it allows them to essentially outsource parts of their security to talented freelance hackers. Earlier this year, ride hailing app Uber launched its own program offering hackers up to $10,000 for finding vulnerabilities. Google in comparison offers a maximum prize pot of $20,000.