Hackers Awarded For Finding Flaws in United Airlines’ Computer Systems

It has been said that two hackers were recently awarded with price money of 1 million miles after they successfully found that flaws in the United Airlines’ computer system.

It has been told that the technology companies were offered the awards during the airlines’ ‘bug bounty’ award program which was started in May. The ‘bug Bounty’ program used by United is not new and similar programs been used by websites and software developers for a number of years.

United spokesman Luke Punzenberger confirming the news said on Thursday that two people have received the maximum award of 1 million miles each and others winners received smaller awards.

Although Punzenberger broke the news about the winner but he denied revealing any details on the flaws that the hackers found. But he said that the airline’s systems are now completely secure.

Individuals can receive compensation for reporting bugs, especially those that focus on vulnerabilities such as security or vulnerabilities that could be exploitive.

The program specifically allows developers to identify and resolve problems in their software before it comes in public’s notice.

Punzenberger said on Thursday that Jordan Wiens, founder of a security company in Florida called Vector 35 is one of two winners of the one million frequent-flier miles prize.

“There were actually two bugs that I submitted that I was pretty sure were remote code execution, but I also thought they were lame and wasn’t sure if they were on parts of the infrastructure that qualified”, Wiens told the ThreatPost.