Muneeb Amin Bhat, a 22-year-old from Zungalpora, Kulgam in Kashmir, began by discovering safety breaches in his associates’ and neighbours’ computer systems. In the present day, he’s doing this for over 60 worldwide organisations together with Apple and NASA.
“Pricey Mr Bhat,
Thanks in your report. Now we have confirmed that that is certainly a vulnerability.”
These are one of many many mails that Muneeb Amin Bhat, a cyber safety analyst and moral hacker, receives in his mailbox. The primary of such mails that he obtained, which included a bounty, added to the younger hacker’s happiness. He realised that “hey, this may very well be a reputable profession!”
The senders of those emails embrace from multinational firms like Oracle, Apple, Intel, Mcdonald’s and the most recent one from NASA (The Nationwide Aeronautics and House Administration).
The self-taught 22-year-old from Zungalpora, Kulgam in Kashmir, has carved a path for himself within the moral hacking and cyber safety area. He labored onerous in the direction of his purpose whereas grappling with restricted entry to the web and spotty electrical energy.
The feather on his cap has been his work for Apple and NASA. In 2023, he found a important vulnerability in Apple which might have compromised the info of hundreds of its customers. Apple acknowledged his discovery and featured him in its Corridor of Fame in August 2023.
For the US area company, he found unknown vulnerabilities by means of their vulnerability disclosure programme which earned him a reputation of their Corridor of Fame as nicely.
He has spent hours serving to these firms safe their knowledge, incomes him hundreds of thousands of {dollars} apart from validation.
Right here’s his story:
A go-to techie
Muneeb’s curiosity in computer systems started on the age of 9. He would hack into his pal’s social media accounts and the Wif-Fi servers.
“I might inform my associates to safe their social media accounts. Once I knowledgeable the store homeowners or neighbours in regards to the safety leak of their Wi-Fi, they’d respect my efforts and thank me,” Muneeb tells The Higher India, understanding the significance of his work.
He was additionally the go-to ‘gadget fixer’ in his village for any issues in cellphones and computer systems.
Regardless of residing in a village which lacked services and confronted challenges starting from electrical energy to web connectivity, he pursued his ardour within the period of 2g mobile community. Watching motion pictures like The Matrix, Dwell Free or Die Exhausting, opened his eyes to the world of moral hacking.
His father purchased their first pc in 2012, put up which, the younger boy would spend hours on the web studying the fundamentals of {hardware}, networking and programming. He learnt from tutorials on Google and YouTube, following the likes of the late Kevin Mitnick, probably the most well-known hackers.
“I learnt that we are able to safe knowledge for organisations. Despite the fact that firms have their very own safety groups, they invite moral hackers to report vulnerabilities of their knowledge by means of their accountable disclosure programme,” he provides.
Over 343 million individuals have been the victims of cyber assaults in 2023, in line with a Forbes report. Information breaches additionally noticed a 72 % enhance in 2023 in comparison with 2021, which makes the necessity for moral hackers and cyber safety specialists all of the extra needed.
After Class 12, Muneeb pursued a B.Tech in Laptop Science in a school which was 80 km away. The each day journey and lessons left him with no time to pursue his ardour. Supported by his father, he determined to drop out within the second yr to focus solely on moral hacking.
“I might both full my engineering diploma or give attention to cybersecurity. To comply with my ardour, I made a decision to do a BCA diploma in cyber safety which additionally allowed me the time to hone my expertise,” provides the 22-year-old.
He’s now pursuing BCA by means of correspondence from the Indira Gandhi Nationwide Open College (IGNOU).
“For Apple, I found a consumer knowledge leak on iCloud. I submitted my findings in July 2023 and obtained an acknowledgement from them just a few months later,” he provides.
He has developed his personal interception instruments that assist him check knowledge and discover leaks.
Whereas his household was initially hesitant about his selection, the expansion of cybersecurity as a viable profession possibility and the monetary rewards doled out by firms for figuring out breaches of their knowledge helped persuade them.
Known as ‘bug bounties’, firms provide wherever from $100 to $10,000 per vulnerability. The reward will increase relying on the criticality of the breach.
Muneeb needs to affix an organization as a cybersecurity analyst after finishing his diploma.
“My purpose is to make sure the security of consumer knowledge and firm web sites and domains,” he says.
The cybersecurity and moral hacking area is a rising one with a number of jobs opening up for a similar in India and overseas. For anybody taken with stepping into this area, greater than levels, Muneeb states that self-learning and data in regards to the {hardware}, working programs, and networking is crucial.
“A primary pc diploma like a BCA or MCA or BTech can be good to enter into this discipline. Certifications like OSCP (Offensive Safety Licensed Skilled) and CEH (Licensed Moral Hacker) will add worth to your resume. What’s extra vital is to study pc {hardware}, networking, working programs like Linux, programming languages, coding languages and extra,” he shares.
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Edited by Padmashree Pande, Photos Courtesy Muneeb Bhat
