Pentagon: Hacker Amjed Qabha didn’t exploit it for his own interest, instead he reported the glitch and was subsequently registered on The Pentagon’s “List of Honor” for his feat, Al Arabiya reported on Wednesday.
Yes! It was a Palestinian hacker Qabha who found a loophole in the official website of The Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.
According to a statement issued by Al-Quds Open University, in which Qabha is enrolled, the Information Technology student had discovered a “Cross-Site Request Forger” (CSRF) flaw that would allow cyber criminals to hack into Pentagon agents’ accounts.
Qabha reported the glitch to the Hackerone website. Soon after, the U.S. ministry of defense acknowledged the loophole, fixed it, and recognized Qabha by adding his name to its honor list that is dedicated for those who help protect its website from hackers.
This isn’t the first time Qabha helped global institutes protect their websites, the Palestinian has already discovered about 48 loopholes in major websites, including Facebook, Google, Master Card and Western Union.
Qabha is known as a “white hat,” an ethical hacker warns corporations and institutes about the gaps. While pursuing a career in information security, in hopes of “protecting Palestine from dangers [in that field],” according to the university, Qabha works as a construction worker to make ends meet.