The Good, the Bad, and the Bounty: 10 Years of Buying Bugs at Microsoft
summary
Microsoft celebrates a decade of bug bounties with concrete practices: 60 million paid over five years, awards to 1,000+ researchers across 45 countries, and more than three dozen focused programs. Reports trigger immediate production detections and mitigations, bounties paid early, fixes go through SUVP and MAP, and a 30‑day embargo precedes public disclosure. High‑value payouts (example: Hyper‑V $200k) and funded researcher grants produce dozens of additional finds; duplicate rates and AI‑assisted triage guide prioritization and shifting security left.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00Bug bounty history
- 1:04Bug bounty evolution
- 7:59Microsoft’s program launch
- 8:43Success metrics and impact
- 10:55Handling researcher frustration
- 15:13Modern bounty practices
- 18:49Bounty program blueprint
- 25:56Key takeaways
- 33:43Q&A on disagreements
- 36:32Reducing spam and triage
- 41:36Expanding scope
- 44:25Final questions and closing
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