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Independent Vulnerability Valuation API
An API and dashboard that provides fair-market valuation of discovered vulnerabilities based on exploitability, affected user base, data exposure scope, and comparable grey-market prices. Helps researchers negotiate fair payouts and helps companies set bounty tiers that actually incentivize responsible disclosure.
Why this matters
You discover a vulnerability that could expose trillions of records at a major tech company. You report it responsibly and receive $5,000 — a fraction of what the same exploit would fetch on the grey market. You have no data to argue for a fairer payout, no visibility into what other researchers received for similar findings, and no benchmark to reference. The company unilaterally sets the price, and you either accept it or walk away with nothing. Every researcher faces this asymmetry, and many are starting to conclude that responsible disclosure is a losing financial strategy.
- · Built for Security researchers negotiating bounty payouts, companies designing bounty programs, and cyber insurance providers pricing risk.
- · Most likely monetization: Freemium — free basic valuation, paid API for detailed reports ($49-199/report) and enterprise subscription for bounty program design ($1000+/mo).
The Pain · Narrative
You discover a vulnerability that could expose trillions of records at a major tech company. You report it responsibly and receive $5,000 — a fraction of what the same exploit would fetch on the grey market. You have no data to argue for a fairer payout, no visibility into what other researchers received for similar findings, and no benchmark to reference. The company unilaterally sets the price, and you either accept it or walk away with nothing. Every researcher faces this asymmetry, and many are starting to conclude that responsible disclosure is a losing financial strategy.
Score Breakdown
Market Signal
Go-to-Market
Independent security researchers who regularly find and report vulnerabilities and want data-backed leverage in bounty negotiations
~30K-50K researchers who submit bugs to bounty programs at least monthly
Security blog content marketing and SEO targeting 'bug bounty valuation' and 'fair bounty pricing' queries
$49 per detailed valuation report, free basic scoring
1,000 free valuation queries and 50 paid detailed reports within 45 days of launch
MVP Scope · 1–2 weeks
- Build valuation model combining CVSS scores, affected record count, and public bounty payout data
- Create simple web form where researchers input vulnerability parameters and receive a fair-value estimate
- Scrape and structure public bug bounty payout data from HackerOne and Bugcrowd disclosure reports
- Design API specification for programmatic valuation access
- Build landing page with valuation tool and explanation of methodology
- Add comparable vulnerability database showing similar findings and their payouts across companies
- Implement company benchmarking dashboard showing average payouts by severity tier
- Create researcher negotiation template generator based on valuation output
- Add API authentication and rate limiting for paid tier
- Launch valuation tool to security communities for feedback and data validation
Differentiation
Why This Might Fail
Self-rebuttal — the most important trust signal
- 1Valuation accuracy — public bounty payout data is sparse and skewed by survivorship bias, making it extremely difficult to build a credible valuation model. Without enough data, valuations will be dismissed as guesswork.
- 2Companies have no incentive to adopt or acknowledge third-party valuations that recommend higher payouts — they control the bounty terms and can simply ignore the tool.
- 3Researchers may use the free valuation but refuse to pay for detailed reports, especially since they are already frustrated with low payouts and may view the service as another party extracting value from their work.
Evidence Summary
How AI synthesized this insight — no verbatim quotes
Over a dozen commenters discussed the gap between corporate-set bounty prices and the actual market value of exploits, with specific references to grey market prices reaching millions for comparable vulnerabilities. Several commenters with professional security experience noted that bounty prices are unilaterally set by corporations rather than reflecting true market value. One commenter explicitly warned that low precedent prices would push future researchers toward black market sales rather than responsible disclosure, indicating awareness of the valuation gap as a systemic problem.
Action Plan
Validate this opportunity before writing code
Recommended Next Step
Validate
Promising signals, but needs confirmation. Create a landing page, collect email sign-ups, then decide.
Landing Page Copy Kit
Ready-to-paste copy based on real Reddit community language — no editing required
Headline
Independent Vulnerability Valuation API
Sub-headline
An API and dashboard that provides fair-market valuation of discovered vulnerabilities based on exploitability, affected user base, data exposure scope, and comparable grey-market prices. Helps researchers negotiate fair payouts and helps companies set bounty tiers that actually incentivize responsible disclosure.
Who It's For
For Security researchers negotiating bounty payouts, companies designing bounty programs, and cyber insurance providers pricing risk
Feature List
✓ Exploitability scoring based on CVSS+ with market-reality adjustments ✓ Comparable bounty database showing payouts for similar vulnerabilities across companies ✓ Impact calculator factoring in exposed records, user base, and data sensitivity ✓ Bounty program benchmarking dashboard for companies ✓ Negotiation support toolkit for researchers with valuation-backed arguments
Where to Validate
Share your landing page in r/HN · front_page — that's exactly where these pain points were discovered.
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