Pentagon puts the call out to hackers to test its cyber defences

The US Department of Defense may boast the world's most powerful military, but its online databases are far from indomitable, as a recent spate of apparent cyberattacks seems to suggest. The Pentagon is now inviting hackers to have at its public webpages as part of an initiative to highlight cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

The Department of Defense (DoD) says that the "Hack the Pentagon" pilot program is the first cyber bug bounty program in the history of the federal government. Just as web giants like Facebook and Yahoo hold competitions and offer cash rewards for those who expose security flaws, the DoD is also dangling a little cash carrot in front of enterprising hackers to find out just how robust its networks and digital services are.

http://www.gizmag.com/pentagon-hackers-cybersecurity/42146/