Bugcrowd, a company that provides a platform for coordinating ethical hackers, holds an event at California Polytechnic University in July. Bugcrowd

Freelance elite hackers can make more than $500,000 a year searching for security flaws and reporting those issues at big companies like Tesla and organizations like the Department of Defense, according to new data released by ethical hacking platform Bugcrowd. The company, founded in 2012, is one of a handful of so-called "bug bounty" firms that provide a platform for hackers to safely chase security flaws at companies that want to be tested. Hackers work on a clearly defined contract for a specific company and get paid a bounty when they are able to find a flaw in a company's infrastructure. How much they're paid depends on how serious the problem is. Companies are increasingly looking for alternatives for cybersecurity testing as millions of jobs in the field go vacant, said Bugcrowd CTO Casey Ellis. By some estimates, as many as 3.5 million cyber jobs may be left open by 2021. Last year, the company saw it's largest payout for a single exploit — $113,000 for a bug found at a large tech hardware company, Ellis said. Payouts rose 37 percent year over year in 2018, according to the data.

Half of the ethical hackers — or security experts hired to penetrate networks and computer systems on behalf of their owners — reported having full-time jobs, according to the survey. About 80 percent said the endeavor helped them land a job in cybersecurity. For the top 50 hackers, the average yearly payouts were around $145,000, Ellis said. According to Ellis, the hackers making the most money have certain essential skills. "They found a particular vulnerability class and they go after that over and over again at different companies. They will go all around cyberspace and try to find as many opportunities to exploit that vulnerability as they can," Ellis said. "They also have good reconnaissance skills and are able to operate on an understanding of what might cause the most damage to an organization. A good sense of how businesses work, or how their infrastructure is built, is really helpful," he added. And while 94 percent of Bugcrowd's hunters are ages 18 to 44, several are still in high school or middle school. The cost of entry is low and based on skills, Ellis said. About a quarter of the hackers on the platform do not have a college degree.

Companies seeking to get hacked