'Yo' App Hired its Hacker--Would You?

Three students from Georgia Tech University recently hacked into the viral messaging app “Yo.” Instead of taking legal action, Yo turned the tables and hired one of the hackers.

In this new era of cyber security, the term “hacker” has a second, more positive connotation. Hackers can be smart folks who know how to offensively manipulate systems.

There’s a unique breed of hackers that are motivated by curiosity. “This individual was more than likely curious, knowledgeable and had time on their hands to play around with your technology,” says Jonathan Cogley, founder of Thycotic, an automated password management service.

“This sort of curiosity could be an asset to your company in experimenting and playing with tech to find further holes and think of things that your existing team may not.”

For this reason, Or Arbel, Yo's Cofounder and Engineer, hired one of his hackers on a freelance basis. “One of the hackers is now working with us on improving the user experience,” he says in an email to Entrepreneur.com. When these skills are used productively, hackers often know the software better than the folks who actually work there.

Hiring a hacker isn’t for everyone, but it’s common among security firms and government agencies. The NSA and FBI attend hacker conferences like (DefCon and BlackHat) to try and recruit infosecurity professionals.

We spoke with a handful of hiring managers about why or why not hiring a hacker would be a smart way to recruit.

Hiring hackers can be a double-edged sword. Here are two sides to this story:

Yes: Setting Up Reward Programs Can Attract the Best Security Experts  

For instance, “Google gave Swiss developer Florian Rohrweck a gig even after he posted about Google+ features he'd discovered through hacking into the source code,” according to Gizmodo.

Muhammed Saad Khan, Growth Hacker, Cloudways, is all in favor of programs that support hiring hackers. “Absolutely,” he says, “The hacker would be someone that understands the site’s architecture better than anyone else, someone with talent and perseverance.”

No: Sounds Like a Good PR Stunt—But Hackers May Not be a Good Fit

“Hiring your hacker for a short term project or some consulting work seems fine,” he says. But whether or not he or she will be a good fit for the long-term depends on your culture.

Cogley’s point may be why tech companies with hacker programs generally stick to short-term rewards. For instance, Facebook will cough up $500+ to anyone who hacks its website. Similarly, even Yo only hired its hacker on a freelance basis.

Roy Man, CEO of daPulse.com says he flat out wouldn’t hire a hacker. It might be a good way to spin the story and makes for a cool story and great PR.

“But in my experience, coders who hack sites just for fun of it, while being 'technical ninjas,' don’t make for good team players and are usually too smart for their own good,” he says. “Those are not the qualities you need in a startup.”

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