United Hackers Given a Million Free Air Miles

US airline United has rewarded two hackers who spotted security holes in its website with a million free flight miles each. The flight provider operates a "bug bounty" scheme that rewards hackers for privately disclosing security flaws rather than sharing them online.
It has given the maximum reward of a million flight miles, worth dozens of trips, to two people. One security expert said the scheme was a big step forward for online security. "Schemes like this reward hackers for finding and disclosing problems in the right way. That makes the internet safer for all of us," said security consultant Dr Jessica Barker.
In return for receiving their flight rewards, hackers are forbidden from revealing the nature of the security holes they discovered.
"We believe that this program will further bolster our security and allow us to continue to provide excellent service," United said on its website.
The idea of responsible disclosure, reporting issues and giving companies time to fix them, is not new. Big technology companies such as Yahoo, Google and Facebook offer hackers cash incentives to report bugs privately.
BBC: http://bbc.in/1e4waFn