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Senators Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) introduced bipartisan legislation last Thursday to establish a bug bounty pilot program for hackers to detect potential cyber vulnerabilities in Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) networks.
The Hack Department of Homeland Security Act would establish a program to incentive ethical, white-hat hackers to point out areas of DHS systems susceptible to cyber attacks before they can be exploited.
The initiative would follow a similar model to the Department of Defense’s Hack the Pentagon program. From May to April 2016, the DoD’s Defense Digital Service partnered with ethical hacking organization HackerOne to establish the federal government’s first bug bounty program and found 138 cyber vulnerabilities in the department’s websites.
The hackers involved with this newly proposed proposed would have to first register with the DHS and submit to a background check.
“Federal agencies like DHS are under assault every day from cyber attacks. These attacks threaten the safety, security and privacy of millions of Americans and in order to protect DHS and the American people from these threats, the Department will need help,” Hassan said in a statement. “This bipartisan bill takes the first step to utilize best practices from the private sector to harness the skills of hackers across America as a force multiplier against these cyber threats.”
The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), has been sent to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs for consideration.
