facebook started paying researchers who find and report security bugs by issuing them custom branded “white hat” debit cards that can be reloaded with funds each time the researchers discover new flaws. “researchers who find bugs and security improvements are rare, and we value them and have to find ways to reward them,” ryan mcgeehan, former manager of facebook’s security response team, told cnet in an interview. “having this exclusive black card is another way to recognize them. they can show up at a conference and show this card and say ‘i did special work for facebook.’” in 2014, facebook stopped issuing debit cards to researchers.