DigitalOcean has launched a paid public bug bounty program, which is the next step in their long history of collaborating with security researchers to identify security bugs on their platform. The program aims to improve DigitalOcean's security posture and provides a safe, structured method for security researchers to report potential issues without fear of reprisal or legal action. The program has undergone several changes over the years, including an increase in bounty limits and the introduction of a comprehensive program policy. DigitalOcean has received significant feedback from security researchers and has paid out $63,787 in bounty rewards over the last 12 months. The new public program is designed to simplify internal governance while retaining quality and responsiveness to researchers' reports, enabling more people to benefit from finding security bugs on the platform.