DOD moves to expand 'Hack the Pentagon' program

The Defense Department has awarded a contract to HackerOne and Synack that would enable the military services and other DOD components to launch "bug bounty" efforts similar to the "Hack the Pentagon" challenge, which concluded in June after exposing 138 cyber vulnerabilities.

The award to create a new contract vehicle for "a crowd-sourced security solution can also serve as a road map for other departments and agencies across the federal government to adopt and implement as well," according to a Pentagon announcement.

The "Hack the Pentagon" program, established by the Defense Digital Service at the direction of Defense Secretary Ash Carter, brought 1,400 vetted hackers together to weed out cyber vulnerabilities in DOD's network system.

"Following the success of Hack the Pentagon, Secretary Carter recognized the value of the program and directed other DOD components and military services to utilize the bug bounty concept as a 'valuable tool in their own security toolkit,'" the announcement states.