> “Not every bug brings glory. Some bring anxiety, betrayal, and burnout.”

In this deep-dive article, we explore the dark side of bug hunting — the parts no one talks about openly, backed by real stories and confessions from seasoned hackers.

⚠️ 1. The Psychological Toll: Burnout, Obsession, and Dopamine Drought

Bug bounty can become addictive — and not in a good way. Every valid report releases a dopamine hit. But when reports go ignored, or worse, are silently patched with no credit, that high vanishes.

Real Case:

TomNomNom, a popular figure in the hacking community, once openly talked about the mental strain of constantly pushing for impact and perfection. Many top researchers take long breaks due to burnout or even quit entirely.

> “Every time I was rejected for a duplicate, it felt like I wasn’t good enough. It started messing with my head.”

Symptoms include:

Constantly checking emails for bounty updates

Fear of missing a new scope

Extreme disappointment over dupes or N/A responses

Losing sleep while chasing a valid bug

---

🕳️ 2. Silent Patching and Stolen Credit

You find a bug. You report it. They fix it… and never respond.

Or worse, they say "Not Applicable" and then roll out a patch next week.

Real Case:

A hacker submitted a high-impact bug to a crypto exchange. It was marked as "informational". Weeks later, the company released a patch quietly — the exact bug fixed — no bounty, no thanks. He later saw the same issue being disclosed in their internal changelog.

---

💰 3. Bounty Bias & Favoritism

Some platforms or companies clearly favor certain researchers — giving them early access, better communication, or even higher bounties for similar bugs.

Real Case:

A researcher from India found a bug in a well-known e-commerce company and was awarded $100. Another researcher (from a Western country) submitted a nearly identical bug the following week and received $1000.

> “Same bug, same endpoint. But their name was more famous.”

This creates resentment, discouragement, and division in the community.

---

👁️ 4. Public Shaming & Retaliation

Some companies don’t take reports kindly. Instead of gratitude, you might face:

Legal threats

Takedown notices

Smear campaigns

Reporting your accounts as malicious

Real Case:

One researcher shared a proof-of-concept on Twitter after the bug was patched. The company retaliated by reporting his GitHub and Twitter for malware distribution. He lost access to both temporarily.

---

🧪 5. Duplicate Wars & Race Conditions

In popular programs, you're not just hunting bugs — you're racing against thousands of others. And often, internal security teams.

Some researchers even script "endpoint watchers" to detect changes in JavaScript, quickly reverse-engineer them, and submit bugs within minutes.

The result?

Your valid report = duplicate

Your long research = zero bounty

---

📉 6. Platform Politics & Bias

Bug bounty platforms are businesses. They protect their customers first, even if it means devaluing your report.

There are cases where:

Severity is downplayed to avoid high payouts

Scope is shrunk post-submission

Reports are ignored until you escalate on Twitter

Some platforms are known for inconsistent triage, and others for outright ghosting researchers.

---

🔓 7. Ethical Gray Areas

What if you find a bug outside scope? Or what if it impacts user privacy, but isn’t technically exploitable?

These questions are common:

Should I go public?

Should I wait till they fix it?

Should I sell it privately?

Some turn to gray/black markets, not for profit, but because of sheer frustration and betrayal.

---

🧠 8. Emotional Isolation

Most bug bounty hunters work alone. There’s no team. No HR. No support group. This isolation can be dangerous.

When faced with:

Repeated rejection

Legal threats

Lack of recognition

…there’s often no one to talk to. Many suffer in silence.

> “I once found a life-changing bug. It got patched silently. I didn’t touch my laptop for a month after that.”

---

🩸 Real-World Confessions

Confession 1: “I was addicted to bounties. I spent nights scanning scopes, skipping meals, ignoring friends. I became a machine.”

Confession 2: “I once copied a bug from a leaked report, modified the payload, and submitted it. I got $5000. But the guilt hasn’t left me.”

Confession 3: “I reported a bug to a company. They didn’t reply. I followed up 3 times. They patched it quietly. No bounty. No credit. I quit bug hunting that day.”

---

🧬 Conclusion: A Double-Edged Sword

Bug hunting is a powerful force — it has protected millions of users and made ethical hackers into superheroes. But behind every Hall of Fame is a story of rejection, betrayal, or burnout.

If you're a bug hunter:

Take care of your mental health

Don’t chase only the money

Build your community

Know when to step back

And if you're a company:

Respect your researchers

Communicate transparently

Never forget the human behind the report

---

📢 Written by Aditya Sunny

(@adityasunny06) — cybersecurity researcher, ethical hacker, and advocate for transparency in the bug bounty industry.

🧵 Follow for more real-world bug bounty stories, writeups, and awareness posts.

#bug bounty
---