I Lost $3,750 in 30 Seconds — The ATO Bug 99% of Hackers Miss (Here’s How to Avoid It)
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Summary
A blog has shared an account of a freelance ethical hacker’s experience of losing out on a $3,750 bounty due to a simple configuration error when using the Burp Suite to conduct security testing on a financial application with apparent strong rate limiting on its one-time password (OTP) verification endpoint.
The freelancer had been attempting to crack an account takeover vulnerability that had been frustrating their efforts for several days.
They had almost reached the endpoint when they realized their approach to OTP brute forcing was flawed and resulted in their failure to claim the bounty.
The blog post serves as a warning to other ethical hackers to ensure they properly configure their tools and enforce strong security practices to avoid simple mistakes that can costly consequences.
Financial applications and other systems that handle sensitive data often have sophisticated security measures in place, and hackers must conduct rigorous testing and prepare for any eventuality to avoid wasted efforts and embarrassment.