Case Study: Monash University achieves continuous security visibility and a 100-fold increase in actionable intelligence with Bugcrowd

Monash University Leverages Bugcrowd for Improved Security Visibility and Continuous Assurance

Monash University, a top-100 global research university based in Melbourne, faced the challenge of securing a vast, constantly changing digital environment—more than half a million external IPs and diverse technology stacks managed across the institution. The 21-person Cyber Risk & Resilience team, led by CISO Dan Maslin, found traditional scanners and infrequent penetration tests inadequate for continuous visibility and assurance, and became the first Australian university to pursue a Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP) and Bug Bounty approach.

Monash partnered with Bugcrowd to deploy a VDP and Bug Bounty program that delivers continuous, crowd-sourced testing by vetted researchers along with validation, triage, re-testing and executive reporting. The result was roughly a 100-fold increase in actionable intelligence for the cost of one traditional penetration test, lower operational overhead, improved visibility and guaranteed continuous coverage—enabling more efficient remediation and a shift away from point-in-time testing.

Monash University

Salman Khan

Cyber Threat & Vulnerability Specialist