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Is Bug Bounty Easy? 🤔

Abhijeet Kumawat
InfoSec Write-ups
Published in
3 min read5 days ago

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The world of bug bounty hunting often looks like a dream career — hackers earning thousands of dollars by simply finding vulnerabilities in websites and applications. But is it really that easy? Let’s break it down! 🚀

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The Illusion vs. Reality 🎭

Many beginners think bug bounty hunting is like a treasure hunt — just sign up on a platform, find a bug, and get paid! 💰 However, the reality is far from this. It requires deep technical knowledge, patience, and persistence.

Take Santiago Lopez (alias @try_to_hack), the first hacker to earn $1 million through bug bounty. He started at the age of 16, but it took years of learning and countless hours of practice before he achieved success. 🏆

Similarly, Mark Litchfield, a well-known bug bounty hunter, has been in the cybersecurity space for over two decades, proving that experience and continuous learning are key to success. 📚

Challenges of Bug Bounty Hunting 🏗️

  1. High Competition — Thousands of hackers are hunting for bugs daily. Finding a unique vulnerability before someone else does is a tough game. ⚔️
  2. Technical Expertise Required — Understanding web security, coding, and exploit development is a must. If you don’t know what SQL Injection, XSS, SSRF, and IDOR mean, you have a long way to go. 😵‍💫
  3. Time Investment — Unlike a regular job, you don’t get paid unless you find a valid bug. Many hunters spend weeks without discovering anything. ⏳
  4. Duplicate Reports — Even if you find a bug, someone might have already reported it, meaning no reward for you. 😢

Why Do People Think It’s Easy? 🤷

The media often highlights success stories — hackers earning $50,000 for a single bug — but…

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Published in InfoSec Write-ups

A collection of write-ups from the best hackers in the world on topics ranging from bug bounties and CTFs to vulnhub machines, hardware challenges and real life encounters. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for the coolest infosec updates: https://weekly.infosecwriteups.com/

Written by Abhijeet Kumawat

Radhe Radhe ✨ || Jr. Security Consultant || Security Researcher || Bug Hunter || Web Application Penetration Tester || Ethical Hacker ||

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