My Bug Bounty Journey: A Middle-Class Kid’s Quest for Free and Beyond

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“This story was originally published on my previous Medium account, which was unfortunately deleted. The original post garnered significant attention, with many views and followers, and I’m republishing it here to share my journey with a new audience and reconnect with readers who may remember it.”

Hello everyone,

I’m Vivek, a software developer currently working in a private company. This is the story of how I stumbled into the world of bug bounties — a journey fueled by curiosity, persistence, and my obsession with getting things for free.

Introduction

I first encountered the term “hacking” as a school student. Growing up in a middle-class family, I often dreamt of getting things for free. Whenever I came across something expensive that I couldn’t afford, I imagined building it myself using whatever I had at hand. I still remember trying to construct a computer using pens, paper, and cardboard sheets!

Computers didn’t interest me much until I opted for the Computer Science stream in higher secondary. Ironically, I hated the subject “IT” so much during secondary school that I even tried cheating on exams.

In 2006, my elder brother managed to buy a secondhand mobile phone from a friend. It was the era of GPRS, and we desperately wanted an internet connection to download games. Unfortunately, our pocket money wasn’t enough for Airtel recharge coupons.

One day, while exploring the phone, I stumbled upon a file titled “Hacking Airtel for Free Internet Access”. The word “free” immediately caught my attention. The file detailed proxy settings that could cheat Airtel and grant free internet access. That was the first time I understood “hacking” as a concept. From then on, hacking meant finding ways to get free internet!

Between 2000 and 2007, my curiosity about computers and programming grew. I was active in tech forums, constantly learning and experimenting. By 2007, I had joined an engineering college in the Information Technology stream. During my free time, I delved into networking and even coded computer…