Kashmiri techie makes it to NASA’s ‘hall of fame’

A techie from Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir has entered NASA's 'Hall of fame' after he identified data breach vulnerabilities in their system. Muneeb Amin Bhat, a 22-year-old cybersecurity researcher, earned thereward along with making it to Apple's Hall of Fame' in 2023 as well after reporting vulnerabilities in theirsystem.

Hailing from Zungalpora village in South Kashmir’s Kulgam, Muneeb reported his findings under NASA’s Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP), which facilitates the US agency’s awareness of otherwise unknown vulnerabilities. As Muneeb is bound by the VDP Guidelines, he cannot disclose the specifics of the external vulnerabilities in the NASA System. Although, he says it did involve sensitivedata exposure.

''I was includedin the 'Hall of Fame'by Apple in 2023.They had given me permission to ethically hack theirsystems to check the vulnerabilities and report it to them and they validated it later and acknowledged it and later added my name into the 'Hall of Fame'. RecentlyI had done the same for NASA, and I found some vulnerabilities and I reported them. In the same way, it was acknowledged by NASA and they later included me in the Hall of Fame. I am extremely happy, and I am very happy to help the security organisations to help them secure their data,'' said Muneeb Amin Bhat.

Over the last few years, Muneeb has been working tirelessly and has identified vulnerabilities in multiple organisations earning prizes worth millions as well as mentions in the Hall of Fame. He has ethically hacked and secured many international organisations like Oracle, McDonald’s, Intel, USAA, Indeed, and many others.

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''Many organisations across the world improve their security and call ethical hackers from around to help them secure theirdata. They do have theirown cyber security teams but despite that to make it foolproof, they want the hackers to check these programmesand that'swhy we are invited, and we check and report it. Organisations should do it always even if they don't pay and just acknowledge, it will help them secure the data,'' said Muneeb.

Muneeb is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer applications (BCA) from IGNOU, which he started after dropping out of his B.Tech degree from one of the private engineering colleges in Kashmir.