MS, all online service reward recipients are included... The scope of vulnerability bounty has been greatly expanded

Microsoft (MSFT) Announces Major Expansion of Its Vulnerability Bounty Program Scope. Starting now, security vulnerabilities in all its online services will be automatically included in the reward scope, and issues found in open-source and third-party software will also be evaluated without exception.

The core of this change lies in the introduction of a “default inclusion” policy. Under this policy, Microsoft’s new online services become eligible for bounty rewards upon release, and the existing millions of services can be included without additional approval procedures. Since there is no longer a need to set product scope on a case-by-case basis, security researchers can significantly reduce the time spent determining which vulnerabilities are valid.

Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) Vice President Tom Gallagher emphasized that this expansion is not merely a simple administrative change but a structural reform. He stated, “Now all services are automatically included in the scope, allowing researchers to focus on vulnerabilities that have a real impact on customers and report them more quickly.” Additionally, Microsoft plans to collaborate more actively with researchers to fix or maintain issues found in third-party or open-source code.

For a long time, the vulnerability bounty program has been criticized for its vague scope boundaries or excessive restrictions, which are believed to cause confusion among researchers and hinder research activities. In response, Martin Yatluis, Director of AI Products at security firm Outpost24, said, “This initiative covers the entire surface of enterprise vulnerabilities and is an important step forward.” He welcomed this move but warned, “Attackers do not care about the source of the code. Whether it’s frameworks like React-to-Shell or Microsoft’s own products, if they can be exploited, they will try.”

Industry analysts predict that this move may initially lead to an increase in reward payouts by Microsoft. However, it is believed that, as overall security improves, there will be high cost-effectiveness in the long run. By comprehensively covering vulnerabilities that directly impact users and enterprise customers, Microsoft aims to enhance the overall credibility of its cloud-based security ecosystem.