2020 Inside The Mind Of A Hacker Report | There Will Always Be Hackers — We Just Need More | A Bugcrowd Story — Part 3 of 4 | With Robin Marte (@masonhck357) And Michael Skelton (@codingo)

Forget about stereotypes of hackers being nefarious masterminds. Hackers are dynamic, young individuals who come from all walks of life — diversity is a big plus for this community — and so it is for the cybercriminals, but they actually are nefarious masterminds.

Countless people are building the applications and systems we use at work and at home. It's a safe assumption they are smart people. Do hackers need to be as smart or smarter than them?

We are glad you're back for another episode as we continue to unveil and explore what is inside the mind of a hacker.

Today we chat with Robin Marte, Ethical Hacker/Security Researcher at Bugcrowd and Michael Skelton, Global Head of Security Operations and Researcher Enablement at Bugcrowd,  as they share their background, experiences, and thoughts about the global hacker community.

Our guests go beyond their profiles in the ITMOAH report to tell us what they hack on, the tools they use, how they manage ongoing training, mentorship, and collaboration with the community, and so much more.

Security researchers come from all walks of life and live in countries spanning six of the world's seven continents. We're even starting to see researchers join together in teams — mini "hacker companies, if you will — securing physical office space and sitting side-by-side to take on bug bounty programs that would be more challenging to tackle on their own. This group model gives them a massive benefit over solo hackers — and the organizations running the bug bounty programs presumably benefit as well as they experience faster, better, and perhaps even more in-depth results.

It's not all fun and games, however. Given the laws in the United States and around the world, hacking can be a dangerous profession. Given the current state of affairs, hackers must have a clear view of the bug bounty landscape they are traversing — which targets are safe, what are the boundaries, are the rules clearly defined? Can a formal bug bounty program coupled with a formal vulnerability disclosure program (VDP) — as can be seen listed on disclose.io — provide the necessary assurances to make it safe(r) for these researchers to do their good deeds? We hope it does, as there is plenty of scope for the researchers to explore. And, there aren't enough of them.

We hope you enjoy this new chapter and what you learn from it.

Have a listen... and get ready for the final episode with Katie Paxton-Fear and Casey Ellis. It's going to be the grand finale whopper you'd expect from this pairing.

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Guests
Robin Marte, Ethical Hacker/Security Researcher at Bugcrowd (@masonhck357 on Twitter)

Michael Skelton, Global Head of Security Operations and Researcher Enablement at Bugcrowd (@codingo_ on Twitter)

Resources
Learn more about Bugcrowd and their offering: https://itspm.ag/itspbgcweb

Download and read the complete 2020 edition of the Inside the Mind of a Hacker report by visiting https://itspm.ag/2BeLHUZ

Catch the full 4-part video/podcast series by visiting https://www.itspmagazine.com/their-stories/2020-inside-the-mind-of-a-hacker-report-unique-histories-shared-destiny-a-bugcrowd-story

Learn more about disclose.io

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