College Student Got 15 Million Miles By Hacking United Airlines (fortune.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: University of Georgia Tech student Ryan Pickren used to get in trouble for hacking websites -- in 2015, he hacked his college's master calendar and almost spent 15 years in prison. But now he's being rewarded for his skills. Pickren participated in United Airlines' Bug Bounty Program and earned 15 million United miles. At two cents a mile, that's about $300,000 worth. United's white hat hacking program invites computer experts to legally hack their systems, paying up to one million United miles to hackers who can reveal security flaws. At that rate, we can presume Pickren reported as many as 15 severe bugs. The only drawback to all those free miles? Taxes. Having earned $300,000 of taxable income from the Bug Bounty Program, Pickren could owe the Internal Revenue Service tens of thousands of dollars. He's not keeping all of the, though: Pickren donated five million miles to Georgia Tech. The ultimate thank-you for not pressing charges last year. In May, certified ethical hackers at Offensi.com identified a bug allowing remote code execution on one of United Airlines' sites and were rewarded with 1,000,000 Mileage Plus air miles. Instead of accepting the award themselves, they decided to distribute their air miles among three charities.

Comments

I've seen this before

[Ol Olsoc]

First prize is 15 million miles.

Second prize is 30 million miles.

Re:I've seen this before

[pete6677]

It being United, I'm surprised they paid at all. They treated him WAY better than they do a paying customer who gets bumped from an overbooked flight.

Georgia Institute of Technology

[Anonymous Coward]

When I read "Georgia Tech University" I throw up in my mouth. It's the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Certificate Program

[R3d M3rcury]

[...] certified ethical hackers at Offensi.com [...]

Okay, who is the governing body that does this? Because I totally want a certificate that says that I am ethical.

Re:"University of Georgia Tech"

[flopsquad]

... you mean Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).

I know you're trying to be pedantic, AC, but TFS is referring to the actual University of Georgia Tech, in South Carolina.

Well if 15 years prison wasn't bad enough

[thegarbz]

I'm not quite sure what is worse, the threat of 15 years prison, or having to fly United.

From the summary...

[Dread_ed]

"He's not keeping all of the, though:"

Well, I either!

Basic math

[Sun]

paying up to one million United miles ... we can presume Pickren reported as many as 15 severe bugs

No. If each report earns up to 1 million miles, and Pickren got 15 mil, it means he reported at least 15 severe bugs.

Shachar

Re:Oh Noes!!!!!!

[Archangel Michael]

Income taxes are some of the most regressive taxes. Period. Liberals love "Taxes" because they always want more (at least for the "rich") but the rich can avoid them, the poor don't pay them, and the middle class is stuck with them, and they are ever increasing.

Taxes, all of them, are regressive. Income taxes are some of the most regressive taxes available.

IMHO, if the value "earned" isn't something that has a regular (commodity) trade value, then it isn't "income" at all. Something that has no trade value at all (like Airline Miles) is of no use outside of flying that airline. You can't even use them on another airline, therefore it has not actual value (like a coupon).