{"id":9726,"date":"2022-01-18T13:09:18","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T07:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/?post_type=story&p=9726"},"modified":"2025-08-21T10:51:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T05:21:26","slug":"bug-bounty-hunter-aditi-singh","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/bug-bounty-hunter-aditi-singh\/","title":{"rendered":"Bug bounty hunter Aditi Singh: How ethical hacking earned her \u20b970 lakh, & counting"},"content":{"rendered":"

(January 18, 2022) <\/strong>\u201cOne skill you want to master in this day and age, if you want to have an extraordinary life, is the ability to learn rapidly.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Business coach Tony Robbins inadvertently encapsulated the life of Aditi Singh, a self-taught bug bounty hunter with this quote. What started in 2017 as mere curiosity about cyber security has now led to such a high level of expertise that the Delhi-based ethical hacker received $30,000 (\u20b922 lakh) in 2021 to detect a flaw in Microsoft\u2019s cloud system. She also earned \u20b970 lakh in 2021, just saying. \u201cWith no prior knowledge of computer and coding programmes or languages, I was a mere novice exploring possibilities. After spending weeks reading and researching, I grew fascinated and knew I wanted to become a bug bounty hunter,\u201d Aditi shares with Global Indian<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In her zeal to hone her skills, the college dropout devoured YouTube tutorials and content on blogs to gain every ounce of information that she could lay her hands on. \u201cMy learnings have made me realise that you don\u2019t need a degree if you are continuously working on improving your skills –\u00a0 these skills that have made me a bug bounty hunter earning lakhs,\u201d smiles Aditi, who has found bugs in over 60 companies including Paytm, Ethereum, HP, and Mozilla.<\/p>\n

\"Bug

The bounty is the bug, for Aditi!<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The 21-year-old girl was in the news in 2021 for receiving a handsome bounty from Microsoft for spotting a bug in the cloud system. \u201cI spotted an RCE (remote code execution) bug and informed the tech giant which took two months to check at their end if anybody had downloaded its insecure version. Only after confirming, they realised the security fault in their system,\u201d says the bug hunter, who reveals that the developers should first download a node package manager instead of writing the code as this often leads to an RCE bug.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Delhi by an Anganwadi<\/em> teacher mother and a clerk father, Singh comes from a humble background. However, it was her love for video games that kept her hooked on to the computer since childhood. \u201cI remember spending so much time on the computer playing video games. Beyond that, I had no interest in it initially,\u201d she says. However, things took a turn for this Notre Dame school student after she moved to Kota to prepare for her medical entrance exams. \u201cI joined the Allen Institute in Kota to prepare. Though I was not inclined to become a doctor, I still wanted to give it a shot. However, destiny had a different plan as I soon started getting interested in computers and ethical hacking,\u201d reveals Aditi.<\/p>\n

\"Bug

Coming across an article on the internet, her curiosity was piqued. \u201cThe next few months, I lapped up every ounce of information I could find. If the dynamics of it intrigued me, I was equally excited about the kind of money that one makes,\u201d adds the bug bounty hunter.<\/p>\n

Her first real triumph came after she hacked into her neighbour\u2019s wifi in Kota. \u201cMonths of reading and watching YouTube videos helped me do it, and it piqued my interest in bug bounty hunting,\u201d says the self-taught ethical hacker.<\/p>\n

Finding the path she was to charter, Aditi gave up on her parents\u2019 dream of making her a doctor, instead enrolled in a bachelor\u2019s degree in computer application at Indira Gandhi National Open University. Interestingly, she ethically \u201chacked\u201d her way into her maiden job at MapMyIndia during her first year of graduation. \u201cWhile going through several platforms, I found some vulnerabilities on MapMyIndia. I reached out to them and reported a bug,\u201d says Aditi. They offered her a job as cybersecurity analyst even without her degree! She worked with them for around three years \u2013 with an eagle eye on cloud security, network security, and android security.<\/p>\n

Needless today, she dropped out of college, and started working full-time. \u201cI realised that I didn\u2019t need a degree to get a job. I am a living example as I learnt coding and programming languages like Javascript from YouTube and Google,\u201d says the cybersecurity expert.<\/p>\n

The cyber world to cipher
\n<\/strong><\/h5>\n

While Aditi kept her day job, she continued learning about ethical hacking and bug bounty hunting. Who are bug bounty hunters? \u201cThey are mostly certified cybersecurity professionals who crawl the web, and scan systems for bugs or security flaws through which hackers can sneak in, and we alert companies. They are rewarded with cash if they are successful in finding a security hole,\u201d reveals Aditi.<\/p>\n

\"Bug

Spotting such bugs isn\u2019t a cakewalk and ethical hackers need to be on top of their game to be eligible for payouts, she avers. \u201cWhile many companies host bounty programmes asking bug hunters to report any flaws, some aren\u2019t registered with bounty hunting platforms, and one has to individually look them up. But it\u2019s important to inform them before you look for flaws. That\u2019s the thumb rule I follow,\u201d says the veritable bug spotter.<\/p>\n

Bounty bug hunting continues
\n<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It was in 2020 that Aditi earned her first big bounty of $1,100 after she reported an OTP bypass bug in TikTok\u2019s forgot password section. \u201cIt was a few months before TikTok was banned in India. I could change anybody\u2019s password on the application, and this was a flaw that they couldn\u2019t overlook. I earned around \u20b982,000 for it,” smiles Aditi.<\/p>\n

\"Bug

Her next big bounty hunting came in March 2021 when she found a bug in Facebook\u2019s cloud system wherein, she could hack into employees or developers\u2019 systems. She earned a whopping $7,500 ( \u20b95.5 lakh) for the bug. \u201cI later found another bug and got $3,000 for it,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

But it was with Microsoft that she hit the jackpot after she detected an RCE in the Azure cloud platform in 2021, and became an internet sensation for earning $30,000 (\u20b922 lakh) for reporting the security issue. \u201cThe news went viral. It was like a validation that all these years of hard work was finally paying off,\u201d says Aditi, who quit her job in 2021 to become a full-time bug bounty hunter.<\/p>\n

The girl, who has found bugs in 60 companies so far, has also received letters of appreciation from Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of California among others. \u201cI found bugs in the websites of these universities. Since they don\u2019t pay you like other companies, they send you a letter of appreciation,\u201d adds Aditi.<\/p>\n

\"Bug

On what she does with the bounty, the youngster smiles, \u201cI go on trips to the mountains. Apart from this, I buy gadgets or subscribe to hacking tools,\u201d adds Aditi, who uses the money to enhance her skills and talent apart from giving a lump sum to her parents. \u201cI give it to them to invest. They are proud that I am doing great,\u201d adds Singh.<\/p>\n

A voracious reader, Aditi loves to curl up with a book when not hunting bugs. \u201cI also love to play video games and travel,\u201d says Singh, who has a younger brother and an older sister. \u201cOur parents have been our biggest support system. They have always encouraged and supported us in our endeavours,\u201d says the girl, who has her eyes on crypto companies next. \u201cCrypto is the future and now I am learning tools that could help me get to the next level. It’s all about evolution and upgrading,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

As an ethical hacker, however, she offers a word of caution, \u201cLearn and then earn. Gain knowledge about ethical hacking first, rather than focussing on money. Keep trying and don\u2019t get demotivated if you don\u2019t make money initially.\u201d And be ethical, inform the company!<\/p>\n

Follow Aditi Singh on Linkedin<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(January 18, 2022) \u201cOne skill you want to master in this day and age, if you want to have an extraordinary life, is the ability to learn rapidly.\u201d Business coach Tony Robbins inadvertently encapsulated the life of Aditi Singh, a self-taught bug bounty hunter with this quote. What started in 2017 as mere curiosity about cyber security has now led to such a high level of expertise that the Delhi-based ethical hacker received $30,000 (\u20b922 lakh) in 2021 to detect a flaw in Microsoft\u2019s cloud system. She also earned \u20b970 lakh in 2021, just saying. \u201cWith no prior knowledge of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":9728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","story-category":[215,2424,2252],"story-tag":[2426,2427,2431,2429,826,2425,2428,1378,2430],"yoast_head":"\nBug Bounty Hunter | Aditi Singh | Global Indian Youth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bug bounty hunter Aditi Singh earned \u20b970 lakh through ethical hacking in 2021. 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