Hackers Hired by Pentagon to Prevent Security Breach

Pentagon initiated a programme called 'Hack The Pentagon' to bring high tech hackers to work on Defence Security websites. The team of 1,410 hackers worked on five public Pentagon internet pages to find unique internet vulnerabilities.

In total 1,189 vulnerabilities were spotted with the first gap to be found within 13 minutes of search. A sum of $150,000 was spent on experiment which found 138 unique vulnerabilities.

"These are ones we weren't aware of and now we have the opportunity to fix them. And again, it's a lot better than either hiring somebody to do that for you, or finding out the hard way," said Ash Carter, Defence Security.

Following the footsteps of various large companies,for the first time a federal government took initiative to prevent breaching of network.

The programme initiated legal hacking and gave protection and remuneration to hackers between $15,000 - $100.

The department will also expand the bounty program to the military services and encourage contractors to allow similar scrutiny.