$300 might be all of the actual liquid cash they had lying around. Or they just asked their employees to consider pitching in 5 bucks each
this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2026
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I would have put the bug on Tor for free, and bought some popcorn. Those companies deserve nothing.
Advertise a service on some dark markets for cheap paid models.
Wht would anybody help big corporations as an non employee?
Hackers like to hack.
Bug bounties can be lucrative, but they are also a way to indulge in the joy of hacking without worrying about legal ramifications.
This is it right here. Skullduggery is fun on an intellectual level but I have enough problems without Johnny Law on my ass.
It's easy to forget the mass panic around hackers in the 80s and 90s! It wasn't a letter from your ISP telling you to cut that shit out (pirating).
Kevin Mitnick got sentenced to a year in jail accessing an internal network of a company, and transferring the source code of their software. As far as I understand he didn't extort the company, threaten them, or release the files. The hack was in 1979 and he was charged in 1988.
The Free Kevin movement in the late 90s (for his later arrest) really created this environment where people pushing back on how blown out of proportion the criminal charges were helped popularize the idea of white hat hacking. If I recall correctly it started as individuals advertising their services for pen testing, etc, and approaching companies with their discoveries hoping for a pay out. I'm sure the big bounty system was just a more efficient way for companies to get this same service without having to hire someone do the testing. They only pay for results. The benefit to the hacker is there is much less risk of being accused of blackmail or hit with charges for admitting to the hack if they cold-approach a company.
Poverty and desperation for money, maybe? To pay rent/utilities/for food/needed medical care, etc. Who knows for sure, but that was the first thing to pop into my head. My broke, disabled ass may just be projecting, haha.
Because they pay significantly more than $300
wE HaVe sUpeR PowErfUl CybEr mOdeLs, fEaR US.
plz don't steal our tokens, K thanks.
AI companies do not respect anybody else's work, in their mind the true genius lies in being a ketamine fueled racist rapist cult leader.
Harsh, but fair.
Guess what will happen next time something similar is found