Hacking Google comes with a big payout

The Pentagon isn’t the only organization inviting hackers to penetrate their system. For the past six years, Google has been encouraging researchers to find and report security flaws through its Security Reward Program.

The company reports that last year alone it paid out over $2 million in monetary rewards and since the program’s commencement in 2010, paid out over $6 million.

(Image via Google Security Blog)
(Image via Google Security Blog)

Now, Google is raising the stakes to encourage even more participants. Last year the company introduced a $50,000 reward for someone to discover a security flaw of a Chromebook in guest mode, but has yet to receive a successful submission. Google is hoping that raising the stakes will generate more participation and lead to more security.

It has also decided to include rewards for methods that bypass Chrome’s Safe Browsing download protection features, which is outline on its rewards page.

As hacking becomes a more prominent threat in the cyber world, more and more organizations are opting to pay for protection. Even Facebook recently paid $15,000 to a researcher who spotted a bug in the account reset process.

So, if you’re handy with hacking, get involved. You could actually paid to do so.

Source: Google Blog

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