Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP)

In software development, errors are inevitable—with one report estimating up to 50 errors per 1,000 lines of code. That means that security vulnerabilities are, quite simply, a fact of life. Taking into consideration that code will be recycled and reused across potentially millions of deployment points, the potential size of the attack surface is staggering.

VDPs may be best described as the internet’s “neighborhood watch.” Neighborhood watches, of course, rely on volunteers to monitor their communities for suspicious activity and to report incidents to the police when warranted. In other words, “if you see something, say something” applies equally to a VDP.

In this environment, all organizations have to adopt strategies to maintain the trust of stakeholders—organizations must prove that they do everything possible to secure their systems and data.