2026 Hacker Goals
This is my response to the Critical Thinking Bug Bounty podcast 2026 Hacker Goals questions. I've had brief forays into bug bounty in the past, but this will be my first year seriously attempting it. With that in mind I wanted to answer these questions to solidify some goals for myself.
What area (if any) would I like to grow in as a hacker?
I have zero passive automation, my entire workflow is built around automating things alongside my active manual hacking (shoutout jxscout). I really want to work on this. Other than that, up-skilling my hardware & mobile skill set.
Who (if anyone) would I like to collaborate with?
I don't have any specific people in mind. It would definitely be cool to collaborate with people in the CTBB community though.
How much time per week (on average) would I like to hack?
Full time job, social life, and keeping my health and sanity don't make this easy. I'm aiming for at least ten hours a week.
How will I manage my hacker motivation in 2025?
Active engagement with individuals doing the same thing is a great motivator.
How much money would I like to earn?
I'm fortunate to have a full time income to sustain my current lifestyle, any extra income from this will be a pleasant bonus.
How many bugs would I like to submit?
As many (valid) bugs as possible!
What would I like my severity distribution to be?
High and Critical bugs give the best rush but I won't be fussy.
What programs/platforms would I like to hack on?
I need to find my program, whatever platform that may end up being on. I really love whitebox review so finding interesting opportunities to do that will be key. Planning to get my feet wet with some Wordpress plugins on Wordfence.
What automation (if any) will I work on?
I've been spoiled for the majority of my security career with clearly defined pentest scopes that have left my asset discovery lacking. Apart from that, a JS diff monitoring system and some better SAST integration to my whitebox workflow.
What research (if any) would I like to do?
Owning a target at pwn2own has been a long-time goal, would be great to reach that this year, target willing.
What (if anything) would I like to contribute to the community?
I like writing up cool bugs, I hope I can find something worth sharing.