Packet Storm

Packet Storm Security is an information security website offering current and historical computer security tools,^[1] exploits,^[2] and security advisories. It is operated by a group of security enthusiasts that publish new security information^[3] and offer tools for educational and testing purposes.^[4]

Packet Storm

Type of site	Computer security
Created by	The Packet Storm Team
URL	packetstorm.news
Commercial	Yes
Launched	1998; 27 years ago (1998)

Overview

The site was originally created by Ken Williams who sold it in 1999 to Kroll O'Gara^[5] and just over a year later, it was given back to the security community.^[6] While at Kroll O'Gara, Packet Storm awarded Mixter^[7] $10,000 in a whitepaper contest dedicated to the mitigation of distributed denial of service attacks.^[8] Today, they offer advertisements and API access as services^[9] and the site is referenced in hundreds of books.^[10]

In 2013, Packet Storm launched a bug bounty program to buy working exploits that would be given back to the community for their own testing purposes.^[11][12] Later that year, they worked with a security researcher to help expose a large scale shadow profile issue with the popular Internet site Facebook.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18]} After Facebook claimed that only 6 million people were affected, additional testing by Packet Storm exposed that the numbers were not accurately reported.^{[19][20][21][22]}