This
is not your ordinary rewards program, it's Google's way
of paying it forward... to
hackers.
After celebrating the one year anniversary of its unique initiative
this past November -- in which the coding-inclined are compensated
for exposing critical
flaws across
its suite of
web services
-- the folks over at Mountain View have updated the program's
policies with a bigger chunk of cash. Previously, the search giant
had set a max payout of $3,133.7 for any discovered vulnerabilities
(a bizarre sum, we know), but that cap has now seen an increase up to
$20,000 depending on the severity of the reported bug. For a company
with billion dollar coffers, the move appears to be none other than a
good faith investment in the security
research community.
But if you lean a bit closer to the paranoiac line, it could also be
viewed as a countermeasure to other, higher-paying firms with less
than honorable intentions. Whether your rose-colored glasses are on
or off, it's still nice work if you can get paid for it. And who
knows? You might even make it to the Security Hall of Fame.
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