14 DAY TRIAL // Coles, the Australian supermarket chain, is the latest company to launch a bug bounty program in an effort to encourage security researchers to responsibly disclose the vulnerabilities they find in Coles websites or in the company’s applications.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the retailer promises to reward anyone who notifies them of a security vulnerability.
Coles has decided to manage its bug bounty through Bugcrowd, an Australian startup that dedicates its activity to such programs.
Conrad Harvey, general manager for IT at Coles, has told SMH that, with the help of Bugcrowd’s services, they gain access to security testing skills that they couldn’t otherwise reach, especially when it comes to Android apps.
Coles believes that the new program will not only secure customer-facing applications, but it will also add an extra layer of security to the company’s existing procedures and protocols.