Hacking and exploiting - How do you deal with any security holes you find?

Question

Today online security is a very important factor. Many businesses are completely based online, and there is tons of sensitive data available to check out only by using your web browser.

Seeking knowledge to secure my own applications I've found that I'm often testing others applications for exploits and security holes, maybe just for curiosity. As my knowledge on this field has expanded by testing on own applications, reading zero day exploits and by reading the book The Web Application Hacker's Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Flaws, I've come to realize that a majority of online web applications are really exposed to a lot of security holes.

So what do you do? I'm in no interest of destroying or ruining anything, but my biggest "break through" on hacking I decided to alert the administrators of the page. My inquiry was promptly ignored, and the security hole has yet not been fixed. Why wouldn't they wanna fix it? How long will it be before someone with bad intentions break inn and choose to destroy everything?

I wonder why there's not more focus on this these days, and I would think there would be plenty of business opportunities in actually offering to test web applications for security flaws. Is it just me who have a too big curiosity or is there anyone else out there who experience the same? It is punishable by law in Norway to actually try break into a web page, even if you just check the source code and find the "hidden password" there, use it for login, you're already breaking the law.

Answer 1

I once reported a serious authentication vulnerability in a online audiobook store that allowed you to switch the account once you were logged in. I was wary too if I should report this. Because in Germany hacking is forbidden by law too. So I reported the vulnerability anonymously.

The answer was that although they couldn’t check this vulnerability by themselves as the software was maintained by the parent company they were glad for my report.

Later I got a reply in that they confirmed the dangerousness of the vulnerability and that it was fixed now. And they wanted to thank me again for this security report and offered me an iPod and audiobook credits as a gift.

So I’m convinced that reporting a vulnerability is the right way.