🎯 WEEKLY BRIEF
This week, we gave an introduction to mastering Nmap to map out targets and sniff out open ports. A little bit like a digital building inspector focusing on stealthy sS scans and sV version detection to find weak spots before anyone else. We also tracked the hottest bounties, including Epic Games and Playtika which have massive multipliers and Okta which has a huge $150,000 RCE prize. With the fresh launch of Royco Dawn now is a perfect time to use your new recon skills to hunt for unique bugs while the attack surface is still untouched.
🚀 TOP PROGRAMS TO HACK THIS WEEK
Here is a list of new opportunities you can try to hack this week!
Program | Platform | Asset Type | Max Bounty | Why it’s 🔥 |
HackerOne | Web/Executable | $25,000 ‼️ | 1.5x Multiplier active until Feb 20. | |
Bugcrowd | Identity/Cloud | $150,000 | $150k for RCE until April 30; expedited triage. | |
HackenProof | Smart Contract | $250,000 | Extremely high payout for Web3 criticals. | |
HackerOne | Mobile/Web | $10,000 | 2x Multiplier active until Feb 10. | |
HackerOne | Edge/Network | $10,000 | Open Scope: rewards for all owned assets. | |
Bugcrowd | SaaS/Web | $50,000 | High reliability and consistent triage speed. | |
Cantina | Smart Contract | $50,000 | New program launched Jan 20; fresh attack surface. |
📌 TIPS FOR THE WEEK
Be sure to Chase the Bonus Prioritize Epic Games and Playtika right now to earn 1.5x to 2x more money for the same bugs.
Make SURE to be First to start on Royco Dawn RIGHT NOW, it just launched on Jan 20, so there are fewer "duplicate" reports.
Go Big on Okta They are paying a MASSIVE $150,000 specifically for RCE bugs until April.
Use Blind Payloads For Zendesk, use tools that fire an alert later when an admin opens your report, it is a great way to find hidden XSS.
Hunt Hidden Sites Use favicon hashes to find secret servers for Cloudflare that do not show up in normal searches.
Check the Logic On Cronos, do NOT just look for web bugs, look for flaws in how the Smart Contracts handle money.
🗺️ TOOL OF THE WEEK
Nmap for Beginners
For my beginner hackers out there, think of Nmap as your digital building inspector, or maybe just a really nosy neighbor. Before you can secure a network, you have to know which doors, also known as ports, are wide open and what kind of party is happening inside.
Why You Need This Tool
The Digital Map: It builds a full inventory of every device connected to the network so you are not hacking in the dark.
The "What's That?" Detector: It identifies if a port is running a web server, a dusty old database, or a mail service.
The Weak Spot Finder: Once you find the exact software version, you can look up known flaws and see if the front door is actually unlocked.
The "First Day" Command List
Scan Your First Target nmap scanme.nmap.org Use the official test server to see a basic list of open ports without getting in trouble.
The Nosy Neighbor Ping nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24 This quickly shows which devices on your local network are actually awake and online.
The Ninja Scan sudo nmap -sS <target> This is a half open scan that is quieter, which makes it less likely to wake up the target's security logs.
The ID Check nmap -sV <target> This asks the open ports for their specific software versions, which is basically checking their ID at the door.
Pro Tips to Not Get Banned
Ask Nicely First: Only scan networks you own, or have written permission to mess with, because jail is not a vibe.
Don't Be a Speed Demon: Beginners scan too fast and trip every alarm, so use T3 to keep things stable and chill.
Document the Evidence: Add oN scan_results.txt to save your findings, which prevents you from having to redo your homework later.
Category | Flag | What it does (The "Spice" Version) |
Targets | iL | Feeds Nmap a text file of targets so you do not have to type like a madman. |
exclude | Tells Nmap to ignore specific IPs, like your own router or the FBI. | |
Discovery | sn | The "No Port Scan" flag, which just pings to see who is actually awake. |
Pn | Forces a scan even if the target is trying to hide behind a "no ping" rule. | |
PS | Uses a TCP SYN ping to sneak past basic firewall security. | |
Scanning | sS | The Stealth Scan, which starts a conversation but hangs up before it is logged. |
sT | The full Connect scan, which is louder but works when you do not have root access. | |
sU | Scans for UDP ports, which is slow but finds the hidden DNS and DHCP stuff. | |
sV | The ID Check, which identifies the exact software version running on the port. | |
Ports | p | Lets you pick specific ports, like 80 for web or 22 for being a ninja (SSH). |
F | The Fast flag, which only hits the top 100 most popular ports. | |
p followed by bold dash | Scans every single one of the 65,535 ports, so go grab a coffee. | |
Intelligence | O | Guesses the Operating System so you know if you are fighting Linux or Windows. |
sC | Runs default scripts to automatically find common, "rookie" vulnerabilities. | |
A | The Aggressive flag, which does everything at once; OS, versions, and scripts. | |
Performance | T0 to T5 | Sets the speed from "Paranoid" to "Insane," though T3 is the stable choice. |
oN | Saves your results to a text file so you do not lose your work. | |
v | Turns on Verbosity so you can watch Nmap work instead of staring at a wall. |