The largest payout from the bug bounty totaled $20,000.

DOD tapped cybersecurity firms Synack, HackerOne and Bugcrowd to provide vetted hackers for continual assessments of defense websites, hardware and physical systems.

The industry — which basically hires and sells the services of freelance hackers who are paid to find weaknesses in systems or products — is seeing a period of rapid growth, in part because of early successes in the federal market.

Bugcrowd CEO Casey Ellis talks with FedScoop about the burgeoning bounty business: "Easier access to more talent to solve problems."

Auto giant Fiat Chrysler became the first major car manufacturer Wednesday to offer payments to hackers who find software flaws or other security vulnerabilities in their products, the company said.