A new start-up company that goes by the name “Cryptors”, is a new Philippine-based start-up bug bounty platform. Founded in April of 2014 by Alexis John Lingad, Nionel Ibarra, and Roselle Gabuya, the company consists of “white-hat” hackers- highly skilled and yet ethical hackers that find bugs, backdoors, loopholes, and all possible vulnerabilities in a software or system and report the findings to the client, who then takes the necessary steps to get rid of these vulnerabilities and rewards the team for their findings. While this isn’t really a new concept, it has been done for ages by big US companies like HackerOne and BugCrowd, Cryptors claims to be the first company of its kind to exist in Southeast Asia.
Their business model involves taking into consideration the two sides of the coin: the client organization and the hackers. The client organization will chose a subscription plan, then launch their website on their preferred platform, and then allow the “army of security researchers” from Cryptors to find fatal bugs and errors. The client will then pay the specific hackers who found these bugs and errors as a reward.
Source: My Startups PH
Hackers who wish to join Cryptors must first electronically sign a non-disclosure agreement. Once accepted, they then choose an organization to hunt bugs from, then submit their bug reports, error logs, and what their suggestions and recommendations to fix these bugs to the client organization. The hackers will then be rewarded with “reputation points” which will increase their global ranking, as well as their monetary rewards and or merchandise. How much the hackers earn depend on the severity of the bugs they find.
The target market for Cryptors are organizations that need to secure their websites, as well as individuals with a skill in computer and information technology to learn and earn from bug hunting. The company earns its revenue from subscription plans for the client organizations using the platform, premium tutorials for hackers, and seminars on cybersecurity for schools and other organizations in the Philippines.
Source: My Startups PH
Last year, Cryptors was mentored by software development company 8layer Technologies for 6 months. Now, Cryptors is launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise 100,000 PHP under Philippine-based platform The Spark Project.
One of the issues the company wants to address is the fact that people perceive cybersecurity as a luxury, or a simple add-on, rather than something that is absolutely necessary. They are addressing this issue through seminars around the Philippines. “Even if you are protecting something or none at all, cybersecurity should be a priority. Otherwise it’s like you’re opening the doors of your building to anyone without guards and security cameras,” says Lingad.
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