Belgium leads the way with new legal framework protecting ethical hackers

Belgium has become the first country in the world to pass a legal framework that allows ethical hackers and bug bounty hunters to responsibly disclose vulnerabilities without fear of legal repercussions. The new Belgian Whistleblowers Act, which came into effect this month, provides strong protections for individuals who disclose vulnerabilities that could put the public at risk. Previously, all forms of hacking were illegal in Belgium, which meant that ethical hackers faced the risk of prosecution for doing the right thing. Inti De Ceukelaire, chief hacker officer at cybersecurity firm Intigriti, was among those who faced legal action for disclosing a vulnerability in a Belgian company.

Despite the new directive, De Ceukelaire said that the expectation is that implementation will be slow as new European regulations around vulnerability disclosures are introduced in the coming months. However, the new framework is a step in the right direction and will likely result in many companies that did not have experience with bug bounty hunting or responsible disclosure policies to embrace the practice. To support firms in their policy-making processes and make it easy for them to comply with evolving rules and regulations, Intigriti leverages its expertise to offer guidance and support.

While machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) tools are playing a bigger role in fighting cybercrime, De Ceukelaire said the technology has serious limitations and its impact on cybersecurity is overhyped by firms that have placed too much trust in its ability to combat cybercrimes. According to De Ceukelaire, AI can be easily fooled, and while it’s good at detecting patterns, it has limitations in identifying continuously changing patterns that make it difficult to detect emerging cyber threats. He added that busting the AI hype will be one of the biggest cybersecurity trends of this year, providing ethical hackers with opportunities to expose the loopholes and dangers in using the technology.