Rich haul in Facebook Bugs

A Tale of Bug Bounties, the blog page of Neeraj Gopal, has all the details of his findings that paved the way for him to move to the Facebook office in London. Neeraj is now a security analyst with the social media giant.

The young techie, hailing from Vadakara reported serious security flaws in Facebook and ended up landing a job with the company. What Neeraj achieved through his involvement with the social media platform was his dream job. Neeraj has been appointed to the post of security analyst for WhiteHat in the section of project security assessment and analysis.

Neeraj has been investigating and reporting on Facebook's serious security flaws for the past four years and became an expert in the field. Later, he received an interview call from Facebook. He hit a home run with his excellent performance in five rounds of interview, out of which two rounds happened in India and the other three in London, to finally grab the job. “I have not done any ethical hacking or security-related courses yet. I frequently Google search and read ample blogs and articles related to the topic, which has helped me to secure the job,” says Neeraj.

“I had my first access to a computer while studying in Class X, which was a gift from my mom. Initially, I had no interest in computer applications except games. But later, I realised that it is my field. I have completed a diploma in IT from NTTF Bengaluru,” he adds.

Neeraj had worked in Wipro, Bengaluru, for almost six years. He completed MS in Systems Engineering from BITS Pilani while working. It was during this period that Neeraj started bug hunting on Facebook and till 2019, he secured a good place in the Facebook ‘Hall of Fame’ ranking, based on the seriousness of the security flaw that is detected and also the quality of the reports.

Subsequently, Neeraj was invited to Facebook live hacking events and private bug bounty meetings. He says he is proud to have attended events in London and Singapore, which were sponsored by them. “I had keen interest in Facebook and its idea of connecting people, but I couldn’t have realised my strength and interests without my father. He is the reason for my success. If you have strong determination, you will find the path of success eventually,” Neeraj concludes.