Google pays money for every bug found in Chrome
Google recently announced a new program that should make hackers across the globe happy. The company plans on paying money to anyone that can find a legitimate bug in Google Chrome. According to the company this is a way for the community to take an active interest in improving Chrome’s security.
According to PC World, Google recently announced that the company was willing to pay around $500 for each bug found in Chrome. The payout can be as high as $1,337 for vulnerabilities discovered deemed to be severe. The dollar amount is cleverly in reference to “leet” speak, which has been traditionally used by hackers and posers.
Other peripheral programs related to Chrome such as Google Gears, and plug-ins are eligible for the program as long as the severity is high enough. According to a security research firm, Chrome needs a great deal of scrutiny due to the fact it hasn’t been out long enough compared to IE, Safari and Firefox. It can also go both ways as browsers out on the market for a long time tend to have more bugs floating around as well.
According to the security firm, Google is the first to initiate such a program from a large company. Microsoft has traditionally refused to participate in such programs. This program may have been sparked by the recent flack Microsoft Internet Explorer has been getting from the major hacking incident in China. Several countries have started advocating against the use of Internet Explorer and pushing third party browsers instead.
Those who discover bugs within Chrome may publish their findings only after Google has had a chance to release a patch. Google was not clear on whether bugs reported that are already out in the field is eligible for a payout. The response was that the researcher should be responsible enough to wait for a patch before full disclosure of the details.
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April 29th, 2011
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