The Defense Department has announced a pilot program where it will use volunteer computer experts that it has vetted to try to find exploits in DoD public facing websites with the possibility of monetary or other rewards.
It said the pilot is the first in a series of programs designed to identify weak points in DoD applications, websites and networks. In this first step, scheduled for April, participants will attack a system that does not contain any personally identifiable or sensitive information for a fixed duration to see what they can come up with.
DoD, whose networks and systems are under constant attack, hopes the pilot and others like it could evolve into a broader and less structured bounty program that could compliment its other cybersecurity efforts.
The department’s Defense Digital Service (part of the White House’s US Digital Service), launched last November, is leading Hack the Pentagon program.
