Netherlands approved recommendations for white hackers

The Dutch government issued official hacktivism recommendations last week to encourage white hackers to open security gaps responsibly. These recommendations establish a formal procedure for ethical hackers to report on IT vulnerabilities, writes The Verge.

"Those who report IT vulnerabilities have important social responsibility," the Netherlands National Cyber ​​Security Center said in a statement. The statement says that some hackers, finding security holes, do not directly notify the organization, instead reporting vulnerabilities publicly in forums or in the media. Such an approach, as stated, can only aggravate the problem.

Recommendations from the Cyber ​​Security Center call on companies and organizations to provide communication channels for ethical hackers — for example, to create online forms through which you can report security vulnerabilities.

The government also urges companies not to prosecute hackers discovering IT vulnerabilities in order to build trust and promote direct communication between the hacker community and organizations. In addition, the recommendations establish a strict protocol for white hackers, following which should ensure that their actions really best serve the interests of the company.