Intel suspends paid bug bounty program, replaces it with unpaid Intigriti disclosure
Intel has stopped its long-running bug bounty program that paid researchers up to $100,000 per vulnerability, replacing it with a new Intigriti-hosted disclosure process that offers no financial rewards. The bounty board remains visible but is marked as suspended, and Intel has not publicly explained the decision. The program had run since 2017 and accounted for roughly 105 of 231 CVEs Intel patched in 2020.
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The move comes amid a broader industry struggle with AI-generated vulnerability reports flooding bug bounty and open-source security channels, forcing projects like Curl to shut down their own reward programs. If Intel's suspension is tied to similar noise or cost pressures, it signals a shift where AI-assisted submissions are undermining the incentive structures that once drove serious security research.
- Intel suspended its bounty program that paid up to $100,000 per flaw, with no reward offered in its replacement.
- The old program, running since 2017, sourced nearly half of Intel's 2020 CVE fixes.
- The change follows industry-wide reports of AI-generated bug submissions overwhelming security teams, as seen with Curl and the Linux kernel.
Source: tomshardware.com — Shane Downing, 2026-09-19
Published there as: “Intel suspends bug bounty program that paid up to $100,000 per flaw — new Intigriti disclosure program offers no rewards”
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