Microsoft announced a major expansion of its bug bounty program that now rewards security researchers for identifying critical vulnerabilities in any of its online services — including those involving third-party and open-source software — regardless of who wrote the code. This change, unveiled at Black Hat Europe by a Microsoft Security Response Center executive, reflects the reality that attackers exploit weak links anywhere in a service, not just Microsoft’s own proprietary code. The expanded scope — part of what the company calls its “in scope by default” approach — automatically includes all new services and third-party dependencies that directly affect Microsoft’s online offerings. Microsoft has reportedly paid tens of millions of dollars in bounties to hundreds of researchers over the past year and views this broadening as part of a larger effort to harden its ecosystem against increasingly sophisticated threats. This shift makes clear that the tech giant is betting on wider community participation to improve its security posture.
Sources: Bleeping Computer, Computer Weekly
Key Takeaways
– Microsoft’s bug bounty program now covers critical vulnerabilities in all online services, including third-party and open-source components that impact those services.
– The program’s “in scope by default” strategy is designed to incentivize broader participation from the security community.
– Microsoft has paid out tens of millions of dollars in bounty rewards and aims to tighten security proactively across its ecosystem.
In-Depth
Microsoft’s decision to expand its bug bounty program to include all flaws impacting its online services is a noteworthy shift in how the company approaches cybersecurity risk management. Traditionally, bug bounty programs — including Microsoft’s own — defined a clear scope: researchers could earn rewards for discovering vulnerabilities in specific products or codebases that the company owned and maintained. But the reality of modern software ecosystems is far messier. Many online services rely on a constellation of third-party and open-source components, and attackers frequently target weak links in those external pieces to gain access to larger platforms or to move laterally once they’ve breached an initial foothold.
At Black Hat Europe, Microsoft Security Response Center leaders framed this expansion as an acknowledgment that “attackers don’t distinguish who wrote the code.” By adopting an “in scope by default” policy, the company essentially broadens eligibility so that any critical vulnerability with a direct, demonstrable impact on Microsoft’s online services can qualify for a bounty award — even if the vulnerable code was developed by an external vendor or open-source community. This is a relatively modern approach in a world where supply chains and software dependencies are deeply interwoven and where isolated bug-finding efforts may miss critical weak spots in integrated environments.
The expanded program could have material implications for how security research is conducted around Microsoft’s vast array of cloud infrastructure, productivity tools, identity services, and AI integrations. On the upside, incentivizing researchers to hunt for flaws in third-party code that affects Microsoft services could uncover high-impact vulnerabilities sooner, leading to faster remediation before those gaps are exploited in the wild. This is especially pertinent given the rise of cloud-based threats, AI-driven attack techniques, and sophisticated supply-chain compromise strategies seen across the industry.
Still, broadening the scope also introduces challenges on the backend. Microsoft now potentially has to handle a higher volume of submissions spanning a larger range of technologies — some of which it does not directly control or maintain. This means evaluating reports, coordinating with external project maintainers, and sometimes even helping patch codebases Microsoft has no direct ownership over. But from a defensive cybersecurity perspective, that effort may well be worthwhile: the company has already reportedly paid out more than $17 million in bounty awards to hundreds of researchers in just the last year, underscoring its commitment to leveraging external expertise to strengthen its products and services.
This development speaks to a broader trend in cybersecurity: crowdsourced vulnerability discovery is becoming indispensable, especially as systems grow in complexity and attackers operate with increasing sophistication. Broad bounty programs encourage a diverse community of white-hat researchers to invest time and resources into finding vulnerabilities that might otherwise languish unnoticed. For organizations the size of Microsoft, tapping into that global talent pool can accelerate threat discovery and patch deployment cycles, helping to protect customers and maintain trust in the security of widely used digital infrastructure.
The move also reflects a strategic recognition that software risk isn’t confined to proprietary code. Modern services are ecosystems composed of countless interconnected parts, and a vulnerability in any of those pieces can have ripple effects. By rewarding researchers for uncovering flaws wherever they exist — inside or outside Microsoft’s direct control — the company is signaling a more holistic stance toward digital defense. Whether this expanded bounty approach will significantly reduce successful exploits remains to be seen, but it certainly positions Microsoft to better identify and address critical security gaps before malicious actors can exploit them at scale.
Overall, the change is both a practical response to how attacks actually unfold and a bet on the value of collective cybersecurity effort. It underscores the evolving role of bug bounty programs as not just a way to reward individual researchers, but as a strategic component of large-scale risk reduction in the cloud era.