--- title: From Beginner to Bug Hunter: Learning Cybersecurity in... description: Bug bounty programs are pulling back due to floods of low-quality, AI-generated vulnerability reports, but opportunities remain for beginners who learn to... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/from-beginner-to-bug-hunter-learning-cybersecurity-in-the-ai-era--sem0mn8cu twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: From Beginner to Bug Hunter: Learning Cybersecurity in the AI Era. | daily.dev og:description: Bug bounty programs are pulling back due to floods of low-quality, AI-generated vulnerability reports, but opportunities remain for beginners who learn to... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/from-beginner-to-bug-hunter-learning-cybersecurity-in-the-ai-era--sem0mn8cu og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/sem0MN8CU.png og:image:alt: From Beginner to Bug Hunter: Learning Cybersecurity in the AI Era. og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # From Beginner to Bug Hunter: Learning Cybersecurity in the AI Era. **[BleepingComputer](https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Bug bounty programs are pulling back due to floods of low-quality, AI-generated vulnerability reports, but opportunities remain for beginners who learn to verify findings properly. Curl ended its paid bounty program on January 31, 2026, after confirmed vulnerabilities fell from above 15% to below 5% starting in 2025, despite having paid over $100,000 for 87 confirmed bugs. By April, Stenberg reported quality had recovered to roughly 15 to 16% confirmed. Google's vulnerability rewards programs still paid $17.1 million in 2025. The piece, sponsored by TryHackMe, recommends building networking, web and OS fundamentals, using AI only after your own attempt, and writing fully reproducible reports with scope, steps, evidence and demonstrated impact. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### why did curl end its paid bug bounty program Curl ended its paid bounty program on January 31, 2026, after the quality of submissions deteriorated. Maintainer Daniel Stenberg said confirmed vulnerabilities fell from above 15% in previous years to below 5% starting in 2025, largely due to a flood of low-quality AI-generated reports. Over its lifetime, the program had still uncovered 87 confirmed vulnerabilities and paid researchers more than $100,000. _Anyone weighing bug bounty hunting against burnout risk can follow program changes like this on daily.dev._ ### did curl's bug report quality improve after the AI slop problem Yes, by April the share of confirmed vulnerabilities in curl's reports had recovered to roughly 15 to 16%, according to maintainer Daniel Stenberg. He noted extensive AI use in those later reports, with researchers finding real problems even though the growing volume still created extra work for maintainers reviewing submissions. _Developers tracking whether AI tools help or hurt vulnerability research can follow updates like this on daily.dev._ ### how much did google pay out through its vulnerability rewards program Google's vulnerability rewards programs paid researchers $17.1 million in 2025. A separate pause affecting the program had a defined scope, leaving supply chain submissions and outstanding reports unaffected, showing that pressure on specific bounty programs does not mean the end of paid opportunities elsewhere. _Researchers deciding where to focus bug hunting effort can track program payouts like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Bug bounty isn’t dead, but the old model is breaking](https://daily.dev/posts/bug-bounty-isn-t-dead-but-the-old-model-is-breaking-wbwl54kmh) · Aikido Security · 1 upvotes · 1 comments - [The Vulnpocalypse Is Repricing the Bug Bounty Economy](https://daily.dev/posts/the-vulnpocalypse-is-repricing-the-bug-bounty-economy-x5ligfg8s) · Dark Reading · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Internet Bug Bounty program hits pause on payouts](https://daily.dev/posts/internet-bug-bounty-program-hits-pause-on-payouts-etorfdare) · InfoWorld · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#vulnerability](https://daily.dev/tags/vulnerability) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/from-beginner-to-bug-hunter-learning-cybersecurity-in-the-ai-era--sem0mn8cu) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"From Beginner to Bug Hunter: Learning Cybersecurity in the AI Era.","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/from-beginner-to-bug-hunter-learning-cybersecurity-in-the-ai-era--sem0mn8cu","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/from-beginner-to-bug-hunter-learning-cybersecurity-in-the-ai-era--sem0mn8cu"},"datePublished":"2026-10-31T13:18:26.252Z","dateModified":"2026-10-31T13:18:55.534Z","description":"Bug bounty programs are pulling back due to floods of low-quality, AI-generated vulnerability reports, but opportunities remain for beginners who learn to...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/a751838a9acbc9cdb01661dcc8137a73?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/a751838a9acbc9cdb01661dcc8137a73?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"BleepingComputer","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"BleepingComputer","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--as8nJ3qy--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774959951/logos/bleepingcomputer?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/from-beginner-to-bug-hunter-learning-cybersecurity-in-the-ai-era--sem0mn8cu","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,career,vulnerability","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BleepingComputer","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/bleepingcomputer"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"From Beginner to Bug Hunter: Learning Cybersecurity in the AI Era."}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/from-beginner-to-bug-hunter-learning-cybersecurity-in-the-ai-era--sem0mn8cu#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"why did curl end its paid bug bounty program","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Curl ended its paid bounty program on January 31, 2026, after the quality of submissions deteriorated. 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