Intel has officially suspended its Bug Bounty Program, which offered security researchers compensation for finding and reporting security vulnerabilities. The program is now marked as suspended on the Intigriti platform, but Intel has not provided a detailed explanation for this decision. Previously, Intel organized a series of bounties for those discovering bugs and vulnerabilities, divided into four tiers.

In tier one, the highest payout was $5,000; tier two offered $10,000; tier three provided $30,000; and the most severe bugs in tier four could be compensated with $100,000. Tier four was intended for major vulnerability disclosures, like Spectre or Meltdown, which were significant security issues a few years ago. Although Intel hasn't explained why it suspended the bug bounty program, a likely reason is that modern technologies are advanced enough to explore, find, and report possible vulnerabilities.

For example, AI can analyze modern software and hardware protection layers, identify potential weaknesses, and quickly develop a solution to patch them. Intel's internal tools are probably utilizing various AI systems to discover new ways to exploit Intel machines and simultaneously fix them before anyone can take advantage. As some readers may recall, modern operating systems like Windows 11 are so exposed to bugs and issues discovered by AI tools that Microsoft released nearly 1,000 patches for vulnerabilities in a single monthly update.

This suggests that the operating system now operates under the assumption that its kernel could be compromised, leading to the introduction of new security layers like Virtualization-based Security (VBS). VBS employs hardware virtualization to create Windows hypervisors that dedicate isolated virtual environments and conceal kernel controls. Hence, Intel is probably using tooling that identifies these issues with AI, and traditional bug bounty programs are no longer as efficient as machines can be.