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WabiSabiLabi Sells Exploits to Highest Bidder


A Swiss company calling itself WabiSabiLabi has opened an eBay-style online auction for new security exploits, claiming that by providing a legitimate marketplace for security vulnerabilities, they will ensure that security researchers get paid fair money for their work, that fewer exploits will be sold to criminal entities, and that software overall will become more secure.

The company says it will vet both prospective buyers and sellers to weed out undesirables and determine that exploits did not come from "an illegal source or activity." According to the company's web site, they will analyze and verify any new exploit, and then package it with a proof-of-concept and sell it one of three ways:

  • Starting an auction, predefined starting price
  • Selling to as many buyers as possible at a fixed price
  • Selling it exclusively to one buyer

WabiSabiLabi also claims it will offer advice on what selling practices and starting prices will bring the highest price, and can get security researchers "ten to twenty times more" for exploits than those researchers could get on their own selling the exploit to one company.


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