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United Airlines Rewards Hackers With 1 Million Free Miles

The skills of two male hackers have resulted in them receiving one million free air miles.

United Airlines has rewarded two computer experts who detected security holes in its website with one million free miles each.

The airline operates a “bug bounty” scheme that rewards hackers who privately share flaws in the website’s security rather than sharing them online.

“We believe that this program will further bolster our security and allow us to continue to provide excellent service,” United said on its website.

In exchange for the one million miles – the equivalent of eight first-class flights to Europe – the hackers are forbidden to disclose the nature of the security holes.

It actually makes a lot of sense; the cost is probably much lower than it would cost to hire an outside consulting firm.

The scheme has been popular in tech companies for some time, but it’s starting to gain traction in other industries. Yahoo, Google, and Facebook offer hackers cash incentives to report bugs privately.

Maybe it’s time to freshen up those computer skills

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