Encouraging Responsible Disclosure of Software Vulnerabilities Vulnerabilities in software are commonplace. They are routinely exploited by bad actors to cause harm and for financial gain. As software is increasingly embedded in daily life, from refrigerators to implanted medical devices to transportation to power management systems, it becomes ever more important to address the problem of rampant software vulnerabilities. One way to improve the situation is wider use of programs for responsible disclosure of software vulnerabilities. Responsible disclosure programs are established by organizations to provide a mechanism for security researchers to disclose vulnerabilities to the entity that developed the product or service. When disclosing responsibly, the researcher typically reveals the vulnerability to the company, but otherwise keeps the vulnerability confidential for a period of time, so that the organization can develop and deploy a software fix for the vulnerability before it becomes publicly known. This paper explores the impediments to responsible disclosure of software vulnerabilities as well as solutions to encourage greater disclosure Prostko, Robert S. Creator Hurley, Deborah Advisor York, David Advisor Brown University. School of Professional Studies. Department of Computer Science Sponsor 2019 24 p. born digital Capstone (EMCS)--Brown University, 2019 Computer security Vulnerability Disclosure Software Critical infrastructure Hacking Responsible Disclosure Hackers Internet of Things (IoT) Bug Bounty text Critical Challenge Project In Copyright All rights reserved. Collection is open for research. English RPB 20100429 10.26300/kr9n-mt07