We’re Excited to Announce the Launch of Comms Hub!

We are excited to announce the launch of Comms Hub to the Researcher Portal submission experience! With this launch, security researchers will be able to streamline communication with MSRC case SPMs (case managers), attach additional files, track case and bug bounty status all in the Researcher Portal.

Summary – What is Comms Hub?

Comms Hub is short for Communication Hub in the Researcher Portal. Currently, security researchers who submit via the portal communicate with MSRC via email. To create a better user experience for the security researcher, we are excited to introduce the Comms Hub feature to the Researcher Portal. With Comms Hub, you will be able to streamline communication with your case SPM, view case status, add file attachments, and track the lifecycle of your case. Comms Hub provides chat functionality allowing asynchronous communications between researchers and the SPM with all the relevant case data readily available all within the Researcher Portal.

Please sign in or create an account at MSRC Researcher Portal to submit a vulnerability report. After you have submitted a report, you can use Comms Hub to track and communicate with your SPM in the Researcher Portal. Once you create an account on the MSRC Portal, with the email you used for submission, you will be able to see all of your case submissions.

New Features

Feature

Description

New message, replies, and activity page

When you click on an individual line item from the “All Reports Page” it will take you to the “View Case Details” Page. Here, it shows you the timeline of the case, relevant case status information, and allows you to communicate with your case SPM. In this view, you will be able to send in additional POC data, ask and respond to questions to your case manager. Each question will display as individual threads and you will be able to respond to your case SPM’s questions.

All Reports Page

This page shows all the submitted vulnerability reports in a list view. You will be able to view additional case details and communicate to your case SPM when you click into an individual case.

Case Update Glimmer UI

When the status of a case is changed and unread, a “glimmer” will show at the top left of the case (row) on the All Reports page and will also be bolded. The “glimmer” + bold will only disappear after the case has been read (opened).

Email notification for new messages

When you receive a new message from your case SPM, you will be notified via email to visit the MSRC Researcher Portal. When you visit the Researcher Portal, a blue bubble with a white number will be displayed next to the reports with new messages in the ‘My Vulnerability Reports’ page.

Pagination

This is a user interface improvement for usability. Each page will show 15 submissions.

Upcoming

We will continue to release updates and new features to better the Comms Hub experience. In the coming months, these are some feature improvements coming to the Researcher Portal:

• Additional notification for case updates in the Researcher Portal
• Comms Hub chat functionality improvements

Questions or Feedback?

For questions or feedback, please either contact us at [email protected] or submit a survey response after you have completed a submission.