MIT Joins Ranks Of Hacker Bounty Payers

Following the example of Uber and the U.S. Department of Defense, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has established a bug bounty program. Hackers who find and “responsibly disclose” vulnerabilities on the school’s sites will be able to collect a reward in the form of a deposit into their so-called techCASH account, which can be used at various local businesses, including restaurants and grocery stores, near where the university is located in Cambridge, Mass. Only a select few, however, are eligible for the program: You need to be an MIT student or affiliate. The university is calling this an “alpha program” – it’s only a test.