The Department of Defense (DOD) has informed ethical hackers that they can now look for security issues across DOD's publicly available information systems under its expanded Vulnerability Disclosure Program.
DOD said Tuesday that its Cyber Crime Center-led program now covers public defense networks, connected devices and frequency-based communications platforms.
"This expansion is a testament to transforming the government's approach to security and leapfrogging the current state of technology within DOD," said Brett Goldstein, the director of the Defense Digital Service.
The initiative is a product of the “Hack the Pentagon” pilot project launched by the Pentagon five years ago in collaboration with bug bounty platform provider HackerOne to identify security flaws on publicly accessible defense websites.
Participants have reported over 29,000 vulnerabilities to the department since the program's inception, with more than 70 percent of the reports deemed to be valid, according to officials.
DC3 Director Kristopher Johnson said DOD's online portals account for a portion of its entire attack surface.
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