US Defense Dept received 50,000 vulnerability reports since 2016

The DoD Cyber Crime Center’s Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP) reports processing its 50,000th vulnerability report since launching in 2016, with contributions from 5,635 researchers and an expanded scope covering all publicly accessible DoD assets. The program implemented automation in 2018, helped mitigate 400 significant flaws in a 2021 initiative (saving an estimated $61M), and processed about 5,000 reports in 2023, while DoD’s HackerOne stats show over 27,000 issues resolved. The announcement underscores the ongoing role of crowd-sourced ethical hacking in strengthening DoD cyber defenses and invites further participation.