The Malta Chamber of Scientists (MSC) believes that the ethical hackers who currently stand charged prevented potentially malicious use of sensitive data in a clear act of good faith.

Three White-Hat (ethical) student hackers and their University lecturer raised the alarm to the student-platform app FreeHour of potential security vulnerabilities and requesting a ‘bug-bounty’ reward for their work. Consequently, the students ended up being arrested and strip-searched with seizure of their equipment before being charged with various breaches of cyber law.

The MSC said that by alerting FreeHour, instead of exploiting the vulnerabilities found or making these flaws public, their actions have, “likely prevented the misuse of sensitive data.” It said that “It is clear that these students and lecturer were acting in good faith” and for these reasons, the MSC believes that the charges brought against the involved should be dropped.

The MSC said that ethical hacking plays a “critical role” in cybersecurity through the identification of vulnerabilities in software, applications, and online services before they can be maliciously exploited. It said that the students Michael Debono, Giorgio Grigolo, Luke Bjorn Scerri, Luke Collins, and their lecturer Dr Mark Joseph Vella, exposed security flaws in the FreeHour app and safeguarded the personal data of the students who use the platform.