Muneeb Amin Bhat, a 22-year-old from Zungalpora, Kulgam in Kashmir, began by discovering safety breaches in his associates’ and neighbours’ computer systems. Right now, he’s doing this for over 60 worldwide organisations together with Apple and NASA.
“Pricey Mr Bhat,
Thanks to your report. We have now 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 could possibly be a professional profession!”
The senders of those emails embrace from multinational corporations like Oracle, Apple, Intel, Mcdonald’s and the most recent one from NASA (The Nationwide Aeronautics and Area 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 arduous in direction of his objective 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 crucial vulnerability in Apple which may 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 via their vulnerability disclosure programme which earned him a reputation of their Corridor of Fame as properly.
He has spent hours serving to these corporations safe their knowledge, incomes him thousands and thousands of {dollars} moreover 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 good friend’s social media accounts and the Wif-Fi servers.
“I’d inform my associates to safe their social media accounts. After I knowledgeable the store house owners or neighbours concerning the safety leak of their Wi-Fi, they might admire 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, Stay Free or Die Onerous, 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, some of the well-known hackers.
“I learnt that we will safe knowledge for organisations. Regardless that corporations have their very own safety groups, they invite moral hackers to report vulnerabilities of their knowledge via their accountable disclosure programme,” he provides.
Over 343 million individuals have been the victims of cyber assaults in 2023, based on a Forbes report. Knowledge 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 essential.
After Class 12, Muneeb pursued a B.Tech in Pc Science in a school which was 80 km away. The every 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 12 months to focus solely on moral hacking.
“I may both full my engineering diploma or give attention to cybersecurity. To observe my ardour, I made a decision to do a BCA diploma in cyber safety which additionally allowed me the time to hone my abilities,” provides the 22-year-old.
He’s now pursuing BCA via 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 take a look at knowledge and discover leaks.
Whereas his household was initially hesitant about his selection, the expansion of cybersecurity as a viable profession choice and the monetary rewards doled out by corporations for figuring out breaches of their knowledge helped persuade them.
Known as ‘bug bounties’, corporations supply wherever from $100 to $10,000 per vulnerability. The reward will increase relying on the criticality of the breach.
Muneeb needs to hitch an organization as a cybersecurity analyst after finishing his diploma.
“My objective 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 fascinated by moving into this area, greater than levels, Muneeb states that self-learning and data concerning the {hardware}, working programs, and networking is important.
“A fundamental pc diploma like a BCA or MCA or BTech could 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 find out about 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
