Samir Aryal Tops Meta Bounty White Hat Hall of Fame List

Samir Aryal, a Nepali engineering student has been listed on top by Facebook’s parent company Meta on its “White Hat” Hall of Fame list. The company recognized Aryal as a leading security expert for his remarkable contribution to finding security vulnerabilities in Facebook.

If you were curious enough what he did that the world’s largest social media network operator gave him the prestigious honor, then you should be impressed. Aryal found that on Facebook, it was possible to seize someone’s Facebook account (hack) in one click. Aryal says, “I found out the security flaw that any Facebook account can be hacked in one click or zero click. After discovering this weakness, I notified Meta and for that, I have been ranked atop its “Whitehat” list for 2024 (so far). White hat list refers to the users worldwide who find and tell Facebook of the security vulnerabilities that help make it a safe and secure social networking platform.

Facebook is one of the most popular social media apps in Nepal and over the world. However, that has also a flipside to its security weaknesses. Individuals like Samir Aryal and others help nullify those flaws and make it a safer place for everyone to engage.

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Samir Aryal found the “one-click” Facebook security flaw

The budding security expert Samir Aryal said that he found out that a Facebook account can be hacked by sending a link and even without it. If I send any link to a Facebook user and seize the account, it’s a one click and if I can gain access to a Facebook profile without sending a link of any type, it’s a zero click. I found both these security errors and told Facebook. This is how Facebook responded and also assured him of a bounty fee as a bounty reward.

Facebook sent a reply to Samir Aryal over the security weakness in Facebook he reported to Meta | Photo credit: Samir Aryal’s Facebook

As of late, we have seen a flood of many accounts including some prominent social workers and even celebrities who have had their Facebook accounts hacked. Probably, the flaw Samir Aryal found might have been a reason, if not the most prominent. Anyway, Facebook has already sorted it out thanks to Aryal’s effort.

He adds that Facebook should have more focus on two-factor authentication (2FA) so that Facebook accounts don’t reach the sinister hands.

Previously, Aryal ranked 27^th in the same Facebook Whitehat list for finding out some security weaknesses. Likewise, he also participated in a cybersecurity conference in 2019 representing Nepal. Check out: Nepal imported IT services worth Rs 67 billion in one single year

Besides Aryal, the same list includes Bistrit Dahal, Shanta Bahadur Gharti Magar, etc. which shows the growing capacity of Nepali youths in ICT. Here, you can check the list of all.