HackerOne Ends Anonymous Era for Bug Bounty Hunters with Mandatory ID Verification
HackerOne has ended its long-standing anonymous model for paid bug bounty programs. Researchers must now complete mandatory identity verification before submitting any reports to programs offering monetary rewards.
Compulsory Verification Becomes a Hard Requirement
Starting August 1, every hacker must finish identity verification before submitting vulnerabilities to any Bug Bounty Program. Unverified accounts cannot submit reports or receive payouts. The rule applies to all paid programs without exception. Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP) projects that offer no financial rewards remain open to unverified researchers.
Verification Process Handled by Veriff
Users access the ID Verification section in their profile, sign the Rules of Engagement document, and are redirected to Veriff, an Estonian identity verification provider. The process requires a live camera scan of a government-issued ID such as a passport, national ID, residence permit, or driver’s license, plus a real-time selfie for facial matching. Scanned copies and digital IDs are not accepted.
Several restrictions apply: VPNs, traffic anonymization tools, jailbroken devices, SDK emulators, and Apple Private Relay are all prohibited and trigger automatic rejection. Verification usually completes within three business days, with a maximum queue time of 48 hours. The verification must be renewed every year.
H1 Clear Adds Criminal Background Checks
H1 Clear represents a stricter tier that combines standard verification with criminal background screening. It targets a select group of elite researchers working on internal enterprise programs. Even Clear-status researchers must still complete the annual standard verification renewal.
Common Rejection Reasons and Preparation Tips
Most rejections stem from technical issues rather than identity fraud: blurry text on documents, missing machine-readable zones, cropped barcodes, expired IDs, or use of photocopies. HackerOne recommends good lighting, removal of glasses and headwear, and use of Chrome or Safari browsers.
Industry-Wide Shift Toward De-Anonymization
The change aligns with regulatory demands for anti-money laundering compliance and customer due diligence on cross-border payments. Similar verification requirements already exist on Bugcrowd and European platforms such as Intigriti. The policy affects new researchers, those in privacy-sensitive regions, and anyone hoping to participate in time-sensitive bounty competitions, as unverified accounts cannot submit reports immediately upon discovering a vulnerability.
Related articles
MinTsifry Proposes Requiring Telecom Operators to Install SORM Equipment Before Obtaining Licenses
The Russian Ministry of Digital Development plans to introduce legislation obligating telecom operators to deploy SORM surveillance systems prior to receiving operating licenses. Under the proposed rules, companies will only be permitted to begin serving subscribers after the equipment has been installed and handed over to law enforcement agencies. Non-compliance could result in license revocation through an extrajudicial administrative process. Current regulations allow operators to obtain licenses with a network diagram that merely indicates planned or existing SORM components. The change aims to close loopholes exploited by unscrupulous providers that repeatedly register new legal entities to operate without surveillance capabilities. Industry experts note that the minimum cost of a basic SORM complex starts at 5 million rubles, which could disproportionately affect smaller local providers without a transition period or scaled requirements.
GOST R 57580 Compliance: Defining Assessment Scope to Verify Real Protection in Financial Organizations
Financial institutions often maintain extensive documentation on information security yet still fail GOST R 57580 assessments due to mismatches between documented processes and actual infrastructure. The standards GOST R 57580.1-2017 and GOST R 57580.2-2018 set distinct requirements for protection levels and evaluation methodology. Correct application begins with identifying the organization's regulatory category under Bank of Russia rules such as Regulation 851-P for credit institutions or Regulation 757-P for non-credit financial organizations. Defining the precise assessment boundary is critical, including systems, remote access channels, virtualization components, and third-party interactions. Organizations must also distinguish between the full assessment scope and the representative sample selected for verification. Evidence collection requires both policy review and technical confirmation that controls function as intended across the evaluated environment.
Evaluating Secure Development Maturity: Comparing BSIMM, DSOMM, SAMM and GOST R 56939-2024
A detailed analysis compares four methodologies for self-assessing secure software development maturity in Russian companies. The review covers BSIMM from Black Duck, OWASP DSOMM, OWASP SAMM and the updated Russian national standard GOST R 56939-2024. Each model was tested through a simulated audit on a fictional company called ООО «Лиса и лосЬ» that uses GitLab, Nexus and SonarQube. The evaluation scored the methodologies on criteria including ease of maturity calculation, recommendation generation, roadmap building, heat-map creation and SDLC coverage. GOST R 56939-2024 and SAMM received the highest total scores of 35 and 34 out of 47. The article concludes that no single methodology covers all needs and recommends combining approaches tailored to specific company contexts.
GlobalSign Launches New Wave of SSL/TLS Certificate Revocations Targeting Russian Organizations
GlobalSign has initiated another round of revocations affecting SSL/TLS certificates issued to Russian websites, with a total of 11,000 certificates withdrawn from 1,300 organizations so far. The revocations primarily impact entities listed in EU and US sanctions regimes, in line with updated CA/Browser Forum requirements that took effect in May 2026. Greek CA HARICA has also participated in the revocations, sometimes completing the process within seconds and leaving site owners little time to respond. The actions stem from mandatory checks against the OFAC SDN List, BIS Denied Persons List, and equivalent European sanctions databases. Russian authorities recommend obtaining domestic TLS certificates via Gosuslugi within three business days to maintain secure access in foreign browsers. Let's Encrypt has similarly updated its policies to restrict certificates for sanctioned Russian entities while continuing issuance for others.